Time attack beetle [Archive] - Page 2

Humble

September 6th 2010, 16:42

Got a little work in this weekend even though I intended to relax. Funny how that works out. I pulled the bumper out of storage to see how it would fit, then made a few measurements and next this you know I've got a cutting disc on the grinder... Then this happened :)

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0253.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0251.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0247.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0246.jpg~original

This is a very preliminary setup but I think it gets the point across. I went with the ronal spoiler because I has a flat bottom and a good clean profile. I feel bad for cutting it up but I hadn't seen anything else that would do. I widened the bumper 10" and the ronal spoiler by 13" to get the perfect fitment. I'll fill in most of the hole in the spoiler leaving an opening for the air/water radiator. Next it will get a splitter/front under tray which will support the air dam and give it a lot more strength. Eventually I want to use this setup to make a master to pull a one piece bumper/air dam from so spares are easy to make.

Steve C

September 7th 2010, 09:13

Hi

I thought you were showing a photo of your car with a roof rack at 1st. When I read further I realized my mistake

Steve

johnnyvee

September 7th 2010, 11:03

I thought he was going to talk about the no headlight ring look
:D

Clatter

September 8th 2010, 02:44

Putting the FAT back in "Fat Chick"!:D

Wally

September 8th 2010, 07:20

Looking good and functional there!
I do hope your ground clearence is enough; it does work better that low otot ;)
Let us know how the difference feels with/without the air dam when you have finished it. I have an idea already tho :D

Humble

September 8th 2010, 12:31

I'm not sure if the headlights will stay or not since this is a race car first and foremost. I may just put aluminum discs in place to eliminate a couple pounds of glass.

I will definitely need to raise her up in the front at least 1-1.5" because the down force from the air dam and splitter will pull it back down at least that much. Talking to a few US touring car teams, I might need to swap in heavier springs to compensate as well.

I've learned a few more aero tricks that I'm going to try and implement on the car before the race season kicks off next year. I've also got a friend who's willing to do some paint/body work for me so hopefully that happens in the next month or so.

Humble

September 28th 2010, 11:32

First race in the race car! She's fast, but had grip problems up front and I didn't realize why until I got home. I was trying to chase down the buggies and got within 2 seconds of them on a short technical course. I think 1 second of that is suspension (it wasn't anywhere near dialed in) and 1 second of that is tires (they are on real slicks and I'm on grooved semi-slicks).

I spent the entire autox run in first gear, topping out at 52mph when bouncing on the rev limiter. During the 4th run I hit 24psi max but built so much case pressure it blew out the 1-2 valve cover gasket. Even though there was no rear sway bar there was much more body roll than I expected. I may do some more trimming down (doors especially) and corner weigh the car again, to make sure my springs aren't too soft.

On the way home, about a half mile from my house, the rear passenger lower shock mount broke with a loud bang. The bolt just sheered in half. I know of dozens of 944 track cars using these racers edge bolts so I didn't expect mine to fail. After looking at the pics I'm pretty sure I was bottomed out on the rear coilovers, which would explain the excessive understeer I saw, and all that force went into the bolt.

Now for the good stuff :)

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/5028798054_229ff50c75_o.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/5028794822_d80e7db39e_o.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/5028187373_c76449c54b_o.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/5028187959_d2ca9cc081_o.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/5028175647_1fccd3bfc6_o.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/HPIM0610.jpg~original

I was only able to get 1 video, because I thought the camera was on during the other runs and it wasn't :P This was my quickest run, finishing in 58.5.

http://vimeo.com/15360537

Fast65

September 28th 2010, 13:28

hi love the car :)

cheers andy

Bug@5speed(US)

September 28th 2010, 22:07

Wow,

Never seen any of those Racer's Edge bolts break..

Looking good BTW..
VR
ALex

Wally

September 29th 2010, 03:04

Cool report! Thanks!
Good pics, but they do show you need more sway bar and/or more spring for a racer imo. I agree, it must have bottomend out and hammering the bolt. Can't you get some snubbers mounted somehow (inside the shock or in the original location)?

What rear coil-overs did you use there in the rear again?
Tnx,
Walter

Humble

September 29th 2010, 11:43

The biggest front bar I've found is a 7/8" I'm not sure if there is anything larger. I have an 18mm rear 944 bar to go in but I didn't want to add it until the springs were close to final. I honestly didn't expect the rears to bottom out because the general consensus was the rear springs were much to stiff. Looking at the pics I thought even the fronts were overkill but they're a bit too soft as well.

Right now the springs are 300# front and 550# rear and I think I might add 50% to that and run 450# front and slightly more 900# rear. I talked to a porsche racer at a track day and his car weighed in at 2200# and he was using 1000# front and 1350# rear! The same porsche was also on 17x11 front and 17x13 rear wheels w/ slicks.

The rear shocks are QA1 single adjustables, which I'll swap out for double adjustables, and put the singles on the street bug. I'll have to find some snubbers that fit in the shocks to hopefully prevent them from bottoming out.

Wally

September 29th 2010, 14:45

I agree I haven't seen ever more then 7/8" front sway bar.
The spring upgrade steps you plan are very large! I think I have 300 front too and they could be more too, but I was more thinking of 350 as a first upgrade... you made me doubt, so very curious what your experience will be as I am not ready for that yet.
Maybe the porche guy had 1000 front for both springs together haha!

Tnx for the infos.

evilC

September 30th 2010, 08:47

I can't believe that you need such high spring poundages!? The video and the pictures don't give the impression of a soft suspension. Have you checked the tyre temps? If so, are they fairly even across the tread? From the temps you should be able to see if the suspension s working correctly. How much stroke do you have on the QA1s? They should be set for approx 40% up and 60% down and the springs should be coil bound (without bumpstops) before you hit the top of the stroke.
You can get poly bumpstops in all configurations and I would invest in those because relying on coil binding is not to be encouraged.
The roll does not look exaggerated but are you losing traction anywhere?
As you go higher with the spring rates you will need to valve the dampers to match. I much prefer softer springs/stiffer dampers rather than the otherway around.

volkdent

September 30th 2010, 13:26

The rear shocks are QA1 single adjustables, which I'll swap out for double adjustables, and put the singles on the street bug. I'll have to find some snubbers that fit in the shocks to hopefully prevent them from bottoming out.

As I recall QA1 actually sells snubbers that go onto the shaft. That's what I've got up front on mine.

Jason

judgie

October 1st 2010, 04:19

the understeer you are getting is it slow or high speed? is it happerning under power or on first turn in? mine suffered from understeer on the exit of slow corners under power and until i had some video of the car i could not work out why. under full power coming out of slow corners it was almost pulling wheelies and i have a lot less power than you, raising the rear helped this. In high speed corners i was getting turn in problems, some toe out on the rear helped a bit but putting the front spolier/splitter on cured most of it.
looking at your car it seems very low on the suspension although the ride hieght is not bad due to the wheel size. going up on ride hieght might help as it will let the suspension do its job, allowing more travel thus letting the tyre grip, when you go from a spring to solid [ethier on the bum,p stop or coil bind] the wheel rate goes through the roof and kills grip no matter what tyres you are running.
i see your running coil overs on the rear, is this with the torsion bars as well?
i would try and go up on the front anti roll bar, kercher do a 22mm one. once thats on get a 944 20mm rear bar, in fact get as many rear bars as you can get hold of and test test test. tyre temps will let know when your getting close and then it getting it right for your style of driving. if your just sticking it in to corners and planting the throttle i dont think any suspension set up is going to help as a light rear engined car with your sort of power is allways going to understeer.
dont take this the wrong way but take a look at how your driving the car, might be a case of tweeking your driving style to match the car rather than trying to set the car up to match your driving stlye.
Hhave fun.
cheers rob

Humble

October 1st 2010, 13:25

Turn in was fantastic, trail braking into a corner planted the nose and she dove right in, but when the weight transferred back I'm pretty sure i was on the stops on the outside rear. I could just breathe on the throttle and she would plow coming out of high and low speed corners, but it was easier to see on the low speed. The ride height is actually too low, I knew that going in but I thought the springs had enough travel and poundage to cope, but that wasn't the case. The rear coilovers are the only rear spring, there's no torsion bars in this setup. I'll have to keep my eyes open for different rear bars. I want it to be slightly softer in the rear for grip and stability coming out of corners, so I'll probably try a few different rear bars like you said. I noticed the problem on my first run and had to drive around it the rest of the morning. I was anticipating problems though and didn't expect it to be perfect. The last few events this year are all test sessions to prepare for next years point race :)

As it was I placed 3rd in my target class, and 22nd of 105 in raw time with a shake down weekend. I'd say that's not a bad start :)

judgie

October 4th 2010, 05:06

deffo sounds sound like going solid on the outside rear, increase in ride hieght and a rear anti roll bar will help. i would try not to go too hard on the spring rate, try and reduce the roll with anti roll bars. be carefull with going to hard on the anti roll bars as you can turn it in to a drift car all to esay.

Humble

October 11th 2010, 16:31

Got a little work done on the car this weekend. Crawled under there and tried to get the bolt out but it's too hard for the bolt extractor. I've got another pair of trailing arms on order so I'll swap it out to get to the next race. That should make getting the bolt out a bit easier as well.

Since I was under the car I swapped out the rear springs for some longer (9" vs 7") 550# springs so I can dial in some more ride height. I had some tell tale o-rings on the shock shaft and sure enough both sides had bottomed out. When the new racer's edge bolts come in I'll probably replace the driver's side for good measure. I also noticed that the new inner cv boots on both axles are toast, cracked and torn all the way through. I'm half tempted to drop the car off at the shop to take care of the fiddly stuff. :P

Humble

November 14th 2010, 21:55

We've had these inconvenient weather cycles lately, nice during the week but raining on the weekend. I finally got a break this weekend and got a chance to replace the trailing arm.

Old arm comes out easy enough
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/HPIM0614.jpg~original

Close up of the shock bolt, I wasn't able to drill very far into in
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/HPIM0615.jpg~original

the new set of aluminum arms came from a '90 944 S2. The casting is a bit different, no bump stop pads, lightly trimmed, the abs ports are drilled out, and it's 1-2 lbs lighter than the turbo trailing arm.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/HPIM0616.jpg~original

Abs stub axle is slightly different
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/HPIM0618.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/HPIM0617.jpg~original

Finally back together, waiting on new cv boots since the new set I just put on disintegrated
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/HPIM0620.jpg~original

Lastly updated engine pics, I replaced the oil cap with a filter breather to relieve case pressure under boost, and rerouted the oil out line to get it away from the exhaust

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/HPIM0611.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/HPIM0612.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/HPIM0613.jpg~original

Humble

January 28th 2011, 12:31

Due to weather and life in general the bug's been parked since the end of September. I finally got the new trailing arm in, replaced the ripped CV boots, and put it all back together. Yesterday, since it was so nice, I raised the front suspension 1.5" and took the bug out for a quick spin to test the new mods.

The filter that replaced the oil cap is now oiled, I plan to put a white towel around it to see how much oil is blowing out. I hit 23psi or so a few times and the valve cover gaskets stayed put so we'll see how it does at the autox on sunday. Just need to get an alignment done on saturday and get the wipers working.

It's been too long since I last drove the bug and I totally forgot how ridiculously fast it is. I'm used to going quick but I was shaking with adrenaline after I hopped out of the car... 4 hours later! Can't wait for sunday now :D

NO_H2O

January 28th 2011, 20:02

Glad to hear that it has a pulse again.

chug_A_bug

January 28th 2011, 22:49

very nice can't wait to See the pics ;)

Chris.

Humble

March 10th 2011, 16:37

Last couple of events had to be run in my DD unfortunately. Rained out in Jan and Frozen out in Feb. It was too cold to start the bug (28F, needs cold start adjustments) and I had thought about using a heat gun in the intake to get it going but ran out of time. I really wish I had got it started because the day warmed up beautifully and not a cloud in the sky.

Recently, I've been trying to get the suspension aligned but have had a couple of non-starts. I'll call an alignment shop, ask if they do custom alignments and describe the bug. When I pick up the bug, no work was done because they were afraid to change anything. They didn't think I meant "Custom" alignment :P This has happened a couple times now. I have an appointment with another shop next week who has aligned actual race cars, and custom built specials, so if weather holds up it'll finally get done.

volkdent

March 10th 2011, 21:24

Roger Krause Racing in Castro Valley, they race and have good prices too. I know it's a bit of a drive, but it might be worth it if the place you've selected doesn't work out for you. They can do corner weighting and alignment at the same time.

510-582-5031

Bug@5speed(US)

March 11th 2011, 00:18

Humble

Any issues with the Racer's Edge rear lower shock Bolts?

Just curious..
Alex

Bug@5speed(US)

March 11th 2011, 00:19

Humble

Any issues with the Racer's Edge rear lower shock Bolts?

Just curious..
Alex

Humble

March 13th 2011, 16:26

The only issues I had were my own fault, setting the rear suspension up too soft with not enough travel. I talked to the guys at racers edge regarding the bolt failure and we both agreed it was because of bottoming out. The trailing arm had ovaled out where the bolt goes so there was obviously too much stress there.

I've had no problems with the new bolts since the car was set up correctly.

Humble

March 29th 2011, 00:09

We've been inundated with rain here in Cali, got more than 10" at the house during the worst storms. We finally got a break in weather and I was able to get some work done on the car.

First I got my alignment done after raising the suspension up, but the left rear is still out a bit. I've got -3* camber, 0* tow and 2.4* caster up front and -1.6* camber on the rear. Rear tow is still out, it's 0 on the right but -0.25 on the left which seems like a missing pivot washer, but I haven't check it out yet.

Some time ago I put the new front and rear swaybars on but I only just got the pics uploaded. I went with a topline 7/8" front with the caster fix bushings, and a topline rear 3/4" with heim/urethane droplinks connected to the porsche camber adjustment bolt with swaybar pickups.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/frontswaybar.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/rearswaybar1.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/rearswaybar2.jpg~original

This weekend I decided to hike up Lucy's skirt a bit and put some windows in the front fenders. I took off about 5" off the bottom of the rear fenders which should help with drag a bit.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0279.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0281.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0289.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0292.jpg~original

For the front I used a template to put 3 4"x4" holes in the fenders which should let enough air out at speed. I still need some mesh in there to keep rocks from chewing up the paint. You can also see the new spa designs gt convex mirrors which were tightened up before they went on the car so they keep their adjustments.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0283.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0282.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0285.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0290.jpg~original

Now it's kind of a rush to sort out all the little stuff before she goes in for paint on Wed! Yeah, she's finally getting painted, Saturn yellow L13M on the body, mirrors, and wing, and flat black on the hood, and decklid.

owdlvr

March 29th 2011, 01:25

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/HPIM0620.jpg~original

The lower shock bolt is in single shear...do you really trust that?

-Dave

Humble

March 29th 2011, 01:31

I do trust it still even after I had one fail. Nearly all the 944 series racers use those bolts and if the car is setup correctly, they don't fail even in single shear. It's a very beefy bolt made from tool steel and mine took a hell of a beating (full race day, 3 dyno trips, nearly 800 miles of bottoming out) before I broke it.

chug_A_bug

March 29th 2011, 01:34

looking great humble.... can't wait to See it in paint :)
are you looking at doing any front lip or splitter or anything under the body to Smooth out the air flow....

Chris.

Humble

March 29th 2011, 12:59

yeah, bumper and splitter are next but require warmer drier weather. I've got plans for a wood/fiberglass consumable splitter (if you're not going through splitters you're not driving hard enough) and fiberglass reinforcing the front airdam. Those will be painted to make the car once they're finished. I thought about doing a rear diffuser tray but we'll see how everything else goes. I'm also working on new running board/side skirts designs which will probably be thin aluminum.

In the wings, are a new datalogging system w/ gps, new digital dash from aim or race-technologies, autox/sprint slicks, water/air intercooler and upgrading the ecu to ms3x.

Humble

April 17th 2011, 20:21

Paint!

Doesn't make the car any faster but she's a damn sight easier on the eyes :) Just got back for the Kelley Park Spring Meet and snapped these off while I was there.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0043.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0045.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0046.jpg~original

wrenchnride247

April 17th 2011, 20:45

WOW! Thats a big change for the eyes. Looks great! :thumbup:

chug_A_bug

April 17th 2011, 20:55

WOW! humble
looks great... and much easier on the eyes

Chris.

Wally

April 18th 2011, 02:33

Looking good! Very dedicated.
How is the wing attached?

judgie

April 18th 2011, 04:14

car looks good. be carfull with how you have that rear wing mounted. thats how i mounted mine on the race car. i had to brace the panel up as it was bending with the forces of the wing. after a while it had got very weak and would flex all over the place as the spot welds started brakeing. i noticed it after a run up the strip and the rear wing had moved about 3 inchs after the vent panel had bent.

70Turbobug

April 18th 2011, 09:09

Nice build! Love the wheels too!

Humble

April 18th 2011, 12:28

Here's another pic I forgot to add last night. This was the odometer reading sunday morning :)

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0041.jpg~original

The wing is attached through the vent panel but anchors above and below the vents on the curved body work. I've been able to hang on the wing (I'm 230lbs.) without deforming the body work so I think it's pretty strong. The primary function of the wing is to reduce lift not provide additional down force. Similar, but nicer, wing designs provide up to 1100 lbs. down force at 100mph, but the beetle shape creates almost 1000lbs of lift at the rear axle at the same speed so it's almost a wash.

Humble

April 24th 2011, 19:01

Did some minor work this weekend painting the trim satin black and got it on the car. It's a minor thing but does make a difference it the way it looks in helping to break up the yellow.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0048_trim2.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0047_trim1.jpg~original

I've had something of a nagging problem for a while but I'm going to had to dal with it sooner than later. Due to the bad location of the wastegate on the cb hide away turbo header (on the #2 primary) it has a bit of a boost creep problem. I thought I could deal with it by setting the wastegate low to 17psi and the most it had ever got to was 25psi (which is still a lot) but I could tune for that. Well I was demonstrating to a friend at the Kelley Park show the benefits of a memory boost gauge and I saw this...

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0051_oil.jpg~original

A hair over 30psi is nearly double the wastegate setting so I think it's time for a new turbo header. I've got a couple of shops to go to for this and I might bite the bullet and go for a twin scroll header while I'm at it.

Wally

April 25th 2011, 02:33

The trim does indeed look good!

I think a front bumper might look even better :rolleyes:

I've had something of a nagging problem for a while but I'm going to had to deal with it sooner than later. Due to the bad location of the wastegate on the cb hide away turbo header (on the #2 primary) it has a bit of a boost creep problem.

We all agree the waste gate location on the CB header could be better, but I never thought it could give that much boost creep. Sure the wastegate isn't too small and/or not working properly?

2 bar boost! Wow! I did experience this once or twice as well due to operator error (me) and I am always amazed our engines can stand that much cylinder pressure.
Gives confidance too otoh :D
Good idea on the twin-scroll header, but you'd knew I was gonna say that huh? :lmao: Do you have a turbo/turbine to suit for that already?

Humble

April 25th 2011, 11:34

The wastegate is working fine but it may not be big enough as well as being in a bad spot. :P I've gone to extra lengths to make sure the motor can handle the pressure. There are drag bugs currently using a nearly identical setup on race gas and 40+psi so I know it can hold the pressure briefly at least. For TS turbos I've been looking at a slightly smaller borg warner than the one you are using or a similarly sized garret GTX.

As for the front bumper, it's coming together but I need some nice weekend weather to really get some work done. I need to do a lot of fiberglass work on the splitter and the airdam to get them race ready.

Wally

April 25th 2011, 13:06

For TS turbos I've been looking at a slightly smaller borg warner than the one you are using or a similarly sized garret GTX.

Good thinking! Carefull with the Garretts, as besides the (even bigger) GT4088R, all the smaller then 40R Garretts are not specifically designed for twin scroll imho.
Also, if your looking at anything smaller then a T4 turbine section/foot print, I wouldn't bother with TS either, but thats just me.

Humble

May 9th 2011, 17:54

Had an autox on sat with the Triumph Travelers called Brutes & Beauts. This was the 2nd year they put it on and it gained a good number of cars. This wasn't a points event, more of a show and shine with an autox mainly geared toward classics but all are welcome.

I have most of a video I'll upload later. Stupid me forgot to clear the SD card and it filled up right before I hit the finish on my first run. I'm still sorting the car out since I only have a couple of events on it since it was put together but it was fun none the less. The rear suspension is a bit softer than I imagined it would be, I'm going to add a couple clicks to the rear dampers and see if it helps. I was easily carrying the inside front out of turns and I could feel it through the steering wheel. According to a couple spectators I was lifting both front wheels on my 1-2 shift under boost :eek: sadly I don't have any video of this.

Here's the only pic I have from the event so far and I'll add more if they come up.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/2011-05-07-051.jpg~original

The next big event is this coming sunday at DeAnza college for the annual Duel at DeAnza. I've been wanting to run the bug there for a while and it should be fun!

Wally

May 10th 2011, 14:26

Looks brutal! Tnx for the update :-)

judgie

May 11th 2011, 03:40

have the cut down rear wings made any differance? been thinking of this mod for mine but only if it works. car looks good and great to see it out racing.

NO_H2O

May 11th 2011, 10:29

Bring on the video.

Humble

May 14th 2011, 21:45

Here's the video on vimeo, seems like everytime I upload a video to youtube the aduio is out of sync :P

http://vimeo.com/23740404

As far as the rear fenders go, I haven't been able to go fast enough to detect a difference yet. There might be something to be said for drag reduction which should help the 0-60 but it's so violently quick doing that I can't tell if there's a difference or not. 70+ you might see some improvement from drag reduction as well.

Wally

May 15th 2011, 03:59

Great driving! engine sounds very responsive. Looks like you guys had fun!

Humble

May 15th 2011, 21:19

Since the Brutes & Beautes event I added a couple clicks to the rear shocks and I think they're about right now at 14/16 stiff. The rear stayed put well enough but more importantly I didn't have tons of weight transfer when getting on the throttle. This event was another one that was between gears for me and I'm starting to think many autoxes will end up that way. I'm really happy with the pro synchros in the tranny now, I would never have been able to fly between 1st and 2nd like this on stock synchros!

Also, I finally figured out the audio problems on youtube... it seems youtube can't handle variable bitrate video or audio and either one messes up playback

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FxWIC6jfPI

Humble

May 24th 2011, 18:13

Finally found some pics for the Duel at DeAnza event

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSC_8048.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSC_8049.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSC_8050.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSC_8051.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSC_8054.jpg~original

Wally

May 25th 2011, 04:39

Great pictures!
Much less roll then before so it seems, looks well planted!

Humble

June 20th 2011, 00:42

Finished up another race weekend! Did a little tweaking on the car saturday and took it on a long drive. I haven't had a chance to go through the logs yet but I noticed a weird behavior. On high boost shifts from 2-3 and 3-4 the wastegate and blow off valve seemed to get caught in a harmonic cycling fit, which prevented spool. If I slammed the throttle shut, waited half a sec or so then opened it up again it would be fine. I'm not sure what would cause this and it doesn't happen all the time. I adjusted my bottom end off boost timing which has really helped my initial throttle response and low end pick up.

After topping off with 100 octane I headed down to the autox in Marina for a double points fathers day event. The car was pretty squirelly under boost and turned the rear tires into smoke at full boost :P Here's my fastest run of the day which was good for 2nd in class and top 5% overall, not too shabby! As you can see, there was still room for improvement :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX0RxM4AEPc

70Turbobug

June 21st 2011, 07:09

On high boost shifts from 2-3 and 3-4 the wastegate and blow off valve seemed to get caught in a harmonic cycling fit, which prevented spool. If I slammed the throttle shut, waited half a sec or so then opened it up again it would be fine.

Sounds to me like your wastegate spring is too weak or sticks? Maybe a problem with one of the "sense lines" vacuum/boost lines? Great video and very quick congratulations!

NO_H2O

June 21st 2011, 08:52

Nice work. Thanks for the video.

Humble

July 18th 2011, 00:28

Still haven't worked out the weirdness with the wastegate spring but I have a manual boost controller on the way to see if it helps any.

I also lucked out and happened to find a stellar deal but had to postpone paying off the credit card in return. Came across a set of good condition Fikse FM5 classics with hoosier r6 rubber for $900! :eek: The wheels are in great shape but the rubber is probably done for. It's a set of 17x9.5 et23 front and 17x10.5 et15 rear, and a quick test fit determined they are a perfect fit! These wheels and tires are also much, much lighter than the 18's with A048s.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0406.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0400.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0403.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0405.jpg~original

Wally

July 18th 2011, 04:10

Cool! they even look good :)
Very curieus: what do the weigh with tires?
Pls also weigh them when you remove/renew the tires.

Humble

July 18th 2011, 23:06

So I got weights today and with a little guess work we can find the weight of the rims. This is per wheel...

Current setup: BSA 215A
BSA 18x8 & Yokohama A048 235/40-18 = 45lbs
Tire = 25lbs. / Rim = 20lbs

BSA 18x10 & Yokohama A048 285/30-18 = 51lbs.
Tire = 27lbs. / Rim = 24lbs.

New setup: Fikse FM/5
Fikse 17x9.5 & Hoosier R6 245/40-17 = 39lbs.
Tire = 22lbs. / Rim = 17lbs.

Fikse 17.10.5 & Hoosier R6 275/40-17 = 42lbs.
Tire = 23lbs. / Rim = 19lbs.

Wally

July 19th 2011, 02:34

That is a significant gain for sure! Some will come from the reduction in wheel diameter, but still.
I was gonna make a smart @ss remark about fitting a 17" tire around an 18"wheel, but lets say, I know what you intended to write ;-)

Humble

July 19th 2011, 02:39

Got it fixed now :P Anyway, it is a sizeable weight loss and I'm curious to see if it will have any "seat of the pants" difference during an autox.

evilC

July 19th 2011, 08:39

Interestingly, the new tyre combination will change a couple of things apart from the weight:

The stance will change as a result of the rear being raised slightly ~12mm and the front lowering slightly ~9mm. Depending on speed that might improve stability especially with the rear wing.

The overall gearing will increase by 4%.

How stiff are the Hoosiers? can you drop the pressures any compared to the yokos?

Clive

Humble

July 19th 2011, 18:08

I'll probably need to raise the front again once the bumper/splitter combo is finished, and I'm going to drop the rear 1" before the next race to see if that helps solve the traction problems I had last time. The hoosiers seem to have a softer sidewall so they should react well to pressure changes, where as the yokos don't seem to care.

Humble

August 1st 2011, 16:12

Had autox #6 this year in the bug on sunday. It was cool and overcast which was nice but it didn't help my tire temps at all. I softened the rear suspension by taking 2 turns pre-load out of the rear springs but I don't think it was enough. The tires are too hard for autox to be competitive and I think I'm going to need real A6 hoosiers soon. I finished up 3rd in class, about a second behind a couple miatas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJsGiNsCaW8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI1Lv9RQhcs

I'll upload pics as they come in, I saw a couple of good shots on a friend's camera so I can't wait :)

NO_H2O

August 2nd 2011, 10:12

Nice vids. Thanks for sharing.

Humble

August 30th 2011, 11:42

Finished another event this weekend, #7 of the series. I had a co-driver (read: tire warmer ;) ) this time around to see if I could get some more heat into the tires but it was a marginal difference at best. Tire temps never reached 100, even with 2 drivers, which seems worse than a 200 treadwear tire to me temp wise. Both my competitors were on super sticky autox R-comps again, but I really narrowed the gap this time. I ran a 52.63, vs a 52.6 for 2nd and a 51.8 for 1st. I was also one of the fastest cars down to 100 ft. slalom topping out at 80-82mph going into the braking zone.

Here's a couple videos I got... I was playing with camera angles and these were my fav's

Bumper cam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egYoJtQ7akc

Wing cam facing backward
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhM1Vx5tVGM

NO_H2O

August 31st 2011, 07:22

Nice work. Thanks for the vids.

Humble

September 6th 2011, 15:37

Here's a few pics from the last event that finally got posted...

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/ufo7_11_133_i.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/ufo7_11_020_i.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/ufo7_11_119_i.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/ufo7_11_117_i.jpg~original

Humble

September 21st 2011, 15:45

Another autox event and finally a first place finish! This is Lucy's first top spot this year and it felt good to know she's finally coming together. What started off as a cold and crazy morning (CHP blocked the highway for nearly an hour trying to round up 3 loose horses) ended up with perfect weather and a great event. I finally had Sean (my co-driver/tire warmer) take the race tires down in his car while I drove the bug. Mind you this is about 130 miles round trip, on the street, and the bug gets lots of attention.

We swapped tires at the event, Sean drove first, then me. I don't know about you guys but I'm conflicted about someone else driving my car. On one hand, I don't want someone else to break something (I want to do it), but on the other hand I love watching and hearing it from the sidelines. Sean scrubbed the old rubber off the tires (7 year old, barely touched, hoosier r3s03) and got them warmed up, and I managed to shave a second a run as the tires gain heat. They are still too cold for autox but 2 seconds faster than the medium-hard yokohama A048s. I had the camera on the fender with the intention of moving it around but didn't get the chance.

Here's the only pic I have so far and the video of the fastest run :)

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/_MG_4713_i.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fhHhclOv2E&list=UU3njwk2Vv6ACsixGLuJisYg

Wally

September 21st 2011, 16:49

Congrats man! Must be great to gain so much so quickly.
'I love Lucy'! :D

ccain529

October 14th 2011, 00:49

Oh wow man... Awesome! Just awesome!

Humble

October 27th 2011, 14:53

Here's a few shots from the last event that finally got uploaded, and there's another event this sunday. The season is winding down with 2 races to go :)

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/ufo8_group2_0695_i.jpg~original

How about a front wheel up at 1+ lateral G's?
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/ufo8_group2_0707_i.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/ufo8_group2_0710_i.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/ufo8_group2_0716_i.jpg~original

Humble

January 2nd 2012, 23:26

Well, the 2012 racing season is now under way! First event of the year was new years day, double points too.

Had a bit of a panic moment a couple days before the race when the alternator failed while i was out on a test drive. Got back home in time, and luckily I had a spare high amp alternator on the shelf, but this isn't what you want to see a day before the race.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF1002.jpg~original

Had a mixed field with regulars and non regulars, and I think I managed 3rd on the old slicks. It was sunny but only about 55 (13C) degrees with a good breeze going, and despite 8 back to back runs the tires only got up to about 85-90 (29-32C). Grip was hard to find in the bug and I was sliding around a lot looking for it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvVOtOGhViw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR2B3077hX4

wrenchnride247

January 3rd 2012, 22:29

Nice vids... did look a little slick :) Electrical problems suck in "under the gun" times.

graham

January 4th 2012, 12:30

This car is just Brilliant, it really makes me realize that when my car is finally set up right my choice to fit big wheels was a good one.This looks like it handles so well.At one point I was worried that 18 inch rims where too big but this proves otherwise. Great car, love it.

Humble

January 4th 2012, 17:40

You can run 18's just fine, but I've stepped down to a 17" for autox since it's a bit rougher and the extra sidewall helps. I'll probably keep my 18" for track duty unless I find another deal on 17" track rims.

Humble

January 31st 2012, 23:04

2012 autox #2

I was racing in the afternoon, in the very last group this time. That worked to my advantage since I didn't get my new tires in time for the autox and the heat would help me. The weather was perfect in the mid 60's F (17-18C) and I loved cruising out with the windows down. The course was a weird one and didn't work well for 2nd gear, but had a lot of short sprints. I have so much power in 1st gear it's too easy to over-drive the car but it rotates so well with the smallest lift of the throttle. I managed a 1st place finish by .5 sec with a passenger, which makes me wonder how faster i could have gone without him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8A3rBTq7zk

DORIGTT

February 1st 2012, 02:52

Hey Humble,

First I'd like to thank you for all your hard work that you've shared with us. Now you can just pay for my car to be finished and I'll really respect you!

Seriously though, I've got a few dozen questions for you.

How are your tire temps with the 17's and 18's in a car that 'light'?

What does it weigh, and what is your weight distribution?

Are you able to get the temps stable across the tread / face of the tire?

I noticed you mentioned them not getting up to temp, is this because of the outside / surface temp being too low?

What compound are you currently running front and rear. I'm planning to use the Lotus Elise tire size/spec for my Ghia with 16x7 - 195/50/16 front, 17x8 - 225/45/17 rear.

Thanks

Humble

February 1st 2012, 15:08

The reason I went with 17s or 18s was to get additional width and better tire choices. You can get 245's in 16" sizes but it's a disappearing tire size. The 17" Fikse wheels are very light for their size but are not cheap. I think 17's are the sweet spot for weight vs. tire choice, and personally I wouldn't go with 18's again.

Weight:
My bug weighs 2050lbs (930kg) with a full tank and a fat driver (the Stig's fat American cousin is 235lbs/106kg) after being stripped and caged. I've got a 45F/55R weight bias, and a 50.5% cross weight with driver. The bug is actually setup pretty damn well and is fairly well balanced.

Tire Temps:
I've struggled with tire temps for a few reasons but first the setup:
Front: -2.5* camber, 0 toe, and as much caster as possible
Rear: -1.5* camber, 0 toe

I expect to have higher inside temps due to the camber and I based my settings on the PCA 70's porsche RS cars. Those cars tip the scales around 2200lbs(998kg) and run 17x10-11" fronts and 17x13" rear full race slicks. I'm running 245/40-17 front and 275/35-17 rear which I think is about as wide as I can go and get good tire temps. That being said I've had a hard time getting the right compound under the car. The 18s I was using had a medium-hard compound which were just too hard really, even in very hot weather. The older race tires on my 17's were a medium compound and good for warm/hot (75F/24C+) weather but wouldn't warm up fast enough for autox duties. I plan on getting a soft compound next which should work for autox and hillclimb sprints, as well as a set of soft-medium compound for track days. I've got a set of Hankook Z214 c71 soft compound tires on order and they should be mounted before the next autox. I haven't decided on a track tire yet and I'm still shopping around.

For tire temps to get into the right range you have to bring the right tire, and I just haven't done that. If you bring too hard a tire out it will feel greasy and just slide around. Street tires can be faster than the wrong race tire.

For the ghia, if you haven't bought your rims yet I'd rethink your sizes. It would be better in the long run to get the same diameter all around either 16's or 17's rather than split sizes. Also do a lot of shopping to see what compounds are available, but I wouldn't run anything harder than a medium compound. The Lotus comes with medium compound yokohama A048's which wear like butter and grip like ducttape (60 tread wear rating), but, those tires don't work below 70F/21C. If it's cold, those tires are icy, I've driven an Exige S 240 track model in the cold and I had more than a few pucker moments. I would suggest a staggered size like 205 front/225 rear but again the same caveat of available compounds, so do some research. Lastly, if it's not an all out track toy, consider the same size all around, easy to find tires, easy to rotate tires (which goes a long way in extending the life of a set of tires), and you can get the same compounds. I go through 4-5 sets of tires a year so if you have a question of particular brands or tires feel free to ask.

Kind of a long answer but I hope I covered it all for you :)

Jadewombat

February 1st 2012, 18:34

I'm running 205/225 C71s on 16x7 and 16x8s on my '73. My car is a little bit lighter but I have way less power. The tires barely get warm on a cool day spent autocrossing. I should have gone with 15s though to help keep my momentum up.

Humble

February 2nd 2012, 13:53

yeah, I thought I might have the same problem with c71's which is why I'm waiting to buy track tires. If the c71's don't warm up at an autox or with 2 drivers autoxing the same car, they'll be good for the track, and I'll wait for more c91 sizes to come out.

DORIGTT

February 2nd 2012, 22:19

Humble,

Check your private messages.

Humble

February 16th 2012, 23:28

Last week I met up with DORIGTT when he was in town for work and showed him the local B.L.T.N aircooled meet. Also took him for a ride in the race bug, a short sprint up the road and back, he screamed the whole way... j/k ;) We ended up chatting until way late and I think we were the last ones to leave the meet.

I've been pending more time and money on the race bug lately solving problems that have persisted until now (deferred defects we used to call them). Dropped the bug off at the shop to have a custom turbo header built that would relocate the waste gate to the collector, and route pipes more efficiently. Currently the header puts the waste gate on the #2 primary, which is a terrible location, and it causes extreme boost creep. Initial estimate was $800-1000 which is high but reasonable, but then later updated the quote to $1700 which is borderline retarded. For that much I could buy a welder, all the tubing bends, all the flanges, make the header, and then have it coated. So I nixed the header build and had them give the bug a quick once over. In the check-up they found the compression was very low, 120-60-60-15, like how could it run, low. After a couple tests they found the rockers were a little tight, which means the motor hadn't fully cooled the last time I adjusted them. After a quick valve job compression came back and it's 125-130-125-130 now.

Since I needed a header still I called around and found a built but unused and uncoated header that might work for $400 but it will need some more work. A new waste gate and flanges are on order so when those show up I can mock everything up. Once the header is ready I may get some help at the same time and mock up the intercooler so it goes on with the new header. Once everything is plumbed it goes back to the dyno to shoot for 400hp.

Things on the to do/to get list:
--A new set of track wheels, I just picked up a set of Fikse profil 5 18" wheel centers that need to be built out.
--A tow rig, either a an ex fleet truck or fleet van will do for now
--Finish front aero treatment and side skirts
--Replace driver's side rear trailing arm with updated abs ready unit (passenger side already done)
--get new 935 style, adjustable rear monoball spring plate replacement
--have new rollcage built that fits tight to body
--install stock dash again and modify to fit new cage
--install racetechnology digital dash and data logger
--rewire car for new dash and data acquisition

Here's the new (but abused) wheel centers I picked up, Fikse Profil 5s 18"
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF3001.jpg~original

You can see they're a little chewed up by a wheel gun but they're straight and crack free
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF3002.jpg~original

New header, covered in a little surface rust but otherwise good
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF3006.jpg~original

New stack of race rubber, 245/40 17 and 275/40 17 Hankook z214 c71 Soft tires. If these don't work, Hankook is starting to roll out c91 super softs, and I'll use this set for the track.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF3004.jpg~original

Wally

February 17th 2012, 05:01

Great updates!
Love the Fikse wheel(center)s; good to hear your compression is back there. Big relieve I'am sure. Will help power and low down torque immensely too.

Funny thing that header looks like what I ended up with my 1200 T1 :)

DORIGTT

February 17th 2012, 13:48

LIAR!:angry:
I wasn't screaming...that was the high-pitched squeak that was created when I was pooping my pants after my bung-hole had slammed shut.:lmao:

Great meeting you Humble and I'm setting up my travel arrangements to stay an extra day to come hang out with you and the gang again.

I'll shoot you pics on the Eberspacher to see if you're interested. I just got back from a week in Denver...24 degrees vs. 70 degrees when in your town.

Humble

February 27th 2012, 12:51

Ha! I'm glad you had a good time and I can't wait to have you back out again. I'm still interested in the eberspacher so shoot me pics asap. Have you tested it, or do you know if it needs to be rebuilt? Also, you left at the right time because it cooled off the day after you left, though not quite as cold as Denver, Brrr.

In other news, I finished up another race weekend but this time on the new race rubber. This was the first scrub so I wasn't expecting ultimate grip but there was still a 2-3 sec improvement! I was probably more reserved than I needed to be and I wasn't fully trusting the tires yet, so I'm sure I left some time out there. I managed 45.25 with wastegate issues and it probably could have been a high 44 without having to back out of it twice. Still I took 1st in class by 1.5 sec or more and moved up the overall standings quite a bit. My co-driver took 3rd I think and he's making the 2nd place flyin' miata earn it now :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjohNCZ7Bm0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwU0ZzMhtEs

Wally

February 27th 2012, 13:21

Awesome results and congrats on the best time!
From the outside you hear the tires scream, but not so from the inside I noticed.

Humble

February 27th 2012, 17:39

Those weren't my tires squealing that's why :) Actually it's very loud inside the car and you can't hear much over the motor.

NO_H2O

February 28th 2012, 08:45

Nice run. Good to see an aircooled classic taking it to them like that. Thanks for the vids.

DORIGTT

February 29th 2012, 22:35

Those weren't my tires squealing that's why :) Actually it's very loud inside the car and you can't hear much over the motor.

I can attest to the fact that its almost as quiet as a new Lexus...right up until you start it.:D

Humble

April 18th 2012, 13:15

Been a while since the last update. Nothing much really happening with the bug lately. I sorted out a cold start problem that ended up being a bad starter. Weather here had been very rainy, which is good because we needed it badly, but it has prevented me from getting work done on the bug. It also kept me from taking the bug out to the previous event and instead I took my mazdaspeed 3 (my rain car). Long story short, despite my rain dancing, the sun came out, dried the course, and left me in the wrong car. I still managed a very fast time in the MS3 and had I been in DS instead of OSP I would have pax'd in the top 10 so I was still proud of the result.

Here's my latest autox in the bug on 4-15-12. It was a fairly quick course with a slow finish but was very active at the end. I'm still having a couple problems with the bug, boost issues and rear suspension hopping with high grip tires. I managed to pull out a 52.3 and the fastest time in the morning was a 50.1. I finished 2nd in class, but beat my points competitor, though I think I trail for class lead by 8 or 9 points after 5 races.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jjk6SSvzl4

chug_A_bug

April 19th 2012, 22:53

nice Run..sounds real nice too ;)

DORIGTT

April 23rd 2012, 20:28

Good run.

You made it look too easy.:lmao:

NO_H2O

April 23rd 2012, 20:44

A fine drive. Looks like a blast.

Humble

April 24th 2012, 12:52

Here's a couple pics from the Kelley Park Spring Meet on sunday. I was safely the fastest car there at least until the battery died. All the time spent idling with the oil cooler fan running waiting to get in killed the battery. I ended up getting a jump so I could leave, such is the life of a race car, they don't like going slow :)

Here's a few shots with the semi-complete airdam in place. The splitter isn't on yet and the front suspension needs to come up about an inch or so but It looks good all blacked out.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0107.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0108.jpg~original

Finally, I got the official results from last weeks autox. I did finish 2nd behind a nationals driver in my main competitor's Flyin' Miata turboed miata. He's really fast and knows his ****, and the miata he was in was a very capable car. But, he only beat me by .18 sec and without the boost issues the race would have been even closer. That was a huge ego boost for me and I could wipe the smile of my face all weekend. Ian, my main competition finished 4th, while a shelby cobra split us in 3rd. I managed 13th overall at the event, and I now lead the points race by 1. This has been a fun and exciting season so far :D

Wally

April 24th 2012, 13:04

Nice pics, looking great! I like that you added the running boards. Looks almost like a normal beetle now ;-)

Humble

April 24th 2012, 23:49

I've have the running boards on it, just hard to notice them with the huge fenders ;) I think the running boards with be next to get a refresh along with the door and hood handles.

NO_H2O

April 25th 2012, 09:01

Good result at the AutoX. I like the airdam. I am working on one for my car but it will be a bit more "Curb/speed bump friendly" as mine is a street car. I just have not had time to get very far with it.

Humble

May 7th 2012, 13:52

Race #6 this year, super nice weather on sunday and a large turnout to the event. I wasn't really happy with the bug's performance this time around, and I know I could have gone nearly a second faster. The turbo seals have pretty much given up and I tried to get one more event out of it. It did okay but not great and I smoked out the grid after each run. The boost issues are killing me the most and that will be one of the next issues to get sorted. We're now on our summer hiatus and don't have any more points events until mid-august, so I have plenty of time to re-work the bug. The good news coming out of this event is that I came in 2nd again and beat my points competitor so I stretched my lead to 10 points.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=steFWDnuVy4

Humble

June 19th 2012, 14:11

Quick update...

Haven't done much with the bug recently, I've been rather pre-occupied with moving my boyfriend 3000+ miles across the country to live with me in CA. It was kind of a crazy adventure, flying to Philadelphia, exploring NJ, PA, and DE for a week, buying a new tow rig and race trailer, then driving them home to CA. The coast-to-coast drive is one that everyone should do, and one that I want to do again. Though next time I want to do the traditional LA to NY route.

The much needed tow rig (I haven't had one since I sold my truck in '09) is a 2000 Ford Excursion Limited V10. It's fully loaded, leather, dual A/C, 3rd row seat, and for a PA truck has almost no rust. It has 180k on it now and performed flawlessly on the trip. The trailer is a custom built low-deck, steel 21' car hauler. It's got a tire rack, secured battery box, brakes, tons of tie down options, and (my favorite part) a winch. Because the Excursion is a V10 gas, I got both for less than 7k, and we managed 11mpg-21.4L/100K for the entire trip.

Here's the new tow setup with the BF's track toy miata on the trailer. This was in Wendover, UT after surviving a 60 mile stretch of perfectly straight road through the salt flats.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/photo.jpg~original

Now that we're back home I've already started collecting parts for the bug, so expect a rash of updates soon :)

Wally

June 19th 2012, 14:45

Cool he likes to drive track days too!
Now that we're back home I've already started collecting parts for the bug, so expect a rash of updates soon :)
Yes please! :)

owdlvr

June 19th 2012, 19:50

Cool he likes to drive track days too!

Yes please! :)

Ditto! Now that my first stage is finished I'm itching for some thread updates while my bank account recovers :P

-Dave

Humble

July 25th 2012, 00:16

This past weekend the bug went up on jack stands and I started pulling parts. First to go was the dead turbo and the header responsible. There is so much play in the turbo it's a wonder that it didn't blow more oil when the car was running, it is obviously done.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0434.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0437.jpg~original

Here's the new unit from AGP, another t3/t4 hybrid to get me through the end of the season. I tried to get a rebuild kit but it was cheaper to buy a new turbo than to rebuild/rebalance. Also new is the tial 38mm v-band wastegate, with a base spring pressure of .5 bar/7 psi, I plan to keep this around after the future motor swap.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0453.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0452.jpg~original

Got the DRD header on for a test fit. I'll need to modify the lower oil cooler support to give more clearance for the header and wastegate, but the fitment is good. I was worried it wouldn't clear the oil sump, which it cleared just fine, but it actually didn't clear the bugpack kafer brace. The brace didn't really work so it's coming out and getting replaced.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0449.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0438.jpg~original

Next up was the front suspension which has needed new struts for a a shamefully long time. How long? Long enough for the blown out shock oil to have dried into power and collected at the bottom of the strut tube. These inserts have been in there since 02/03 when I had the struts fabbed up. They are sectioned 944 n/a struts with about 4" cut out of them to use a rabbit gti strut insert. After 10 years of racing they still look good, but I did find one problem. Weld on the inside of the tube kept the new koni adjustable inserts from going in. New long reach bits for the die grinder are on the way and should be here tomorrow.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0432.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0446.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0442.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0445.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0430.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0439.jpg~original

I had to stop there for the day, kind of frustrating hitting blocks with everything but that's the custom fab life. Still in the mail is header wrap and ties, a new Mendeola stiffy 5-bar kafer brace, and some exhaust bends. I've also got a new berg mid-mount that needs to be welded in though I'm not sure that will get done in time.

Humble

August 1st 2012, 12:18

More progress since Friday, though not enough. Everything so far has been 5 steps forward, 5 steps back. Finished the front struts fairly quickly once I had the extended die grinder bits, so quick that I forgot pics until they were both assembled.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0486.jpg~original

I swapped out the front 7"/300# springs w/ helpers to a 10" 300# spring to get some height on the front. I should be able to fit a splitter under the nose now

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0491.jpg~original

Here's where things started going less than perfect. Pulled out the old bugpack kafer brace that didn't work and started putting in the new mendeola stiffy brace. The mendeola piece is very nice, and money well spent but I found a problem with it once it was 90% installed. If you have a high torque starter the top cross bar that goes between the shock towers won't fit. I had to pull the tower plates out, re-drill new holes 1" forward and then put it all back together. It barely clears now but everything mostly fits...

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0495.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0497.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0496.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0494.jpg~original

Next it was time to weld up the waste gate flange on the drd header. Fair warning: all I had was a flux core welder which isn't the prettiest thing but it got the job done. I went through a few weld-grind-weld processes just to make sure it wouldn't leak. I also had to do a little cleanup on the sealing surfaces from the spatter.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0504.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0509.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0508.jpg~original

Finally some easy small projects to make me feel better. First was a new lower brace for the oil cooler to push it out a couple more inches to make room for the new wastegate. Second, I had to turn the oil sump 180 because the oil return fitting was uncomfortably close to the hottest part of the header. I also replaced the brass oil drain fittings with some nice AN hardware.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0505.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0506.jpg~original

That's it for now but I'll be back under it today. The goal is to drive the car tonight if possible, but we'll see. Race day is sunday bright and early so I'm counting the hours now.

Humble

August 2nd 2012, 13:01

Didn't get as much done as I wanted but I also had to make a quick trip to the local speed shop for more header wrap. Got the wrap finished and spent too long getting the header in the bug. I had to pull one of the kafer brace bars to get the header in and once it was tight I could put the bar back in with barely any clearance.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0512.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0517.jpg~original

Next up was the new turbo, wastegate, and a new -10 AN turbo drain line. The gold piece on the feed line of the turbo is the new .065" oil restrictor. Originally I was going to run a 90* -10 AN fitting directly on the bottom of the turbo but that made the fitting the lowest point on the back of the car. I ended up re-using the old 90* drain pipe piece, put a second 90* AN fitting on it and run the line to the passenger side of the sump so it tucks up a bit nicer now. The new turbo has a different "clocking" on the exhaust side so the old exhaust had to be cut up. It might remain a loud downturn until after the next event while i figure out how I'm going to route everything.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0516.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0513.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0510.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0519.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0518.jpg~original

Lastly got the new manual boost controller in place until I get the megasquirt control figured out and put the wideband back in. I still need a small ntp plug for the turbo and put some new oil/filters in then it's ready to make some noise.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0515.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0521.jpg~original

Humble

August 4th 2012, 20:13

So without a muffler on the car, and just a down turn after the turbo, the car is incredibly loud but the turbo chop is awesome. My friend followed me down to the gas station and back, and according to him the exhaust is "all fire, all the time". He mentioned something that hadn't occurred to me, the color of the flames coming out of the tail pipe change color from red/yellow/orange to blue/purple/white which I can guess is the water/alcohol kicking in. I'm not going to leave it like this it's just too loud, there's just not enough time to get a new exhaust fabbed up.

On the short jaunt I had a chance to adjust the front shocks and they're good enough for the autox. I have no idea why it took me so long to swap those out, and it was clear to me last night that I've been driving around the front grip problem for years. I played with the manual wastegate controller and slowly dialed up boost until it was around 22psi. Boost is now rock solid, no fluttering from the blowoff valve or wastegate and no spooling or surging problems from the turbo. It almost feels like the turbo spools smoother and quicker than it used to. I am happier with everything right now than I have been in a long time and I want to get some more seat time to get used to the new norms.

Right now the car is all loaded up ready to head out before dawn to start the 2nd half of our race season :D

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0523.jpg~original

Humble

August 6th 2012, 23:31

So the autox went off without any mechanical issues. It was soo nice not driving the bug an hour each way to the event, enjoying heat in the morning and a/c in the afternoon. The exhaust wasn't as loud as I feared it would be but it's still pretty noisy. Lucy, though, has never felt so good, and if you compare this video with my last one it's very clear she's running much better. Unfortunately due to electrical issues some of my gauges weren't working (boost, speedo) so I didn't get all the data i was looking for. I gotta figure out why the battery can't get voltage to the starter and why it's not charging. If I jump the bug it starts just fine but it won't start on its own, and the battery tests fine at the parts shop.

Here's the video from my 3rd and fastest run. I was on a fast sprint on my 4th run and over cooked it into a hammerhead type corner sending me into the cones. I carried a couple cones with me under the car which popped out later in the course, and got my rival red flagged. He got a free run on hot tires right after and beat my best time by half a second. The points race is close again, and I'm now only leading by 1 with 5 races to go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF4zG57EK_U

Humble

August 28th 2012, 17:32

A two-fer this time around! A couple weeks ago I did a test day with the lotus club so I could dial in the new wastegate and turbo. Turns out I did more for my tires then my turbo. I was having problems gripping the cold concrete and talked to a couple of national competitors (champions too). They suggested that the tires aren't heating up in autox because the sidewalls aren't moving enough. So i kept dropping tire pressures until i hit 16psi in front and 18psi in back. I was picking up more grip and started messing with the MBC to dial back the boost.

At the previous autox my gauge cluster wasn't working so I couldn't record boost pressure. After a frustrating day during the week, i discovered the red top optima battery was toast. New battery under warranty and everything is great now. At the lotus event i couldn't get any less than 24psi no matter what i tried with the MBC. I'm going to by-pass it and run the line right to the wastegate with it's 7psi spring and see if there's any change.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB0-murW6NA

At the double points race this past sunday it was on! My main competitor and I were tied in points after a close year so far. We raced in the afternoon and my nemesis was on fresh new hoosier a6 tires that had already been scrubbed. We had a large run group and that killed my usual 2-driver advantage of warm tires so we were neck and neck. We traded half second drops each run but in the end he beat me by less than .1 sec. Damn... I have 3 races left to try and make up the points gap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB-Ck6rOFbs

Same course, but this camera is at the top of the windshield so you can see the course a better, and hear the engine a bit better. I really love the way the car sounds with the new header and turbo, but it's soooo loud without a muffler. I really, really need to put that back on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z87IicpkaY

Humble

September 10th 2012, 22:17

Got some pics of the bug on course from the last event, sadly it's my co-driver at the wheel and not me. Hopefully I'll have some better shots at the next event this sunday.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/ufo_group6_006_i.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/ufo_group6_013_i.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/ufo_group6_041_i.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/ufo_group6_068_i.jpg~original

Mr_Zed_ZX20

October 3rd 2012, 10:56

I absolutely love the track footage, this is probably my favorite thread to follow. Keep up the good work.

Humble

October 14th 2012, 19:56

I've had a crazy month and I've got some catching up to do starting with the event in september. We were running in the afternoon, so it was nice to sleep in. I gave the front struts a little more rebound damping to see if it would help the front end stick better. They were too soft previously, and I hoped that this would make a difference. They ended up being still too soft but I was no longer locking up the front tires on hard braking. Before the front suspension would bounce off the stops and the wheels would lock up, but not this time. Awesome! However, I noticed hesitation again trying to go from part to full throttle but it could be a fuel slosh issue. I'm going to run a mostly full tank next time and see if the issue persists.

Lastly, after my co-driver/tire-warmer's first run he shut down the car. When he hit the starter button to fire her up again, the guts of the button shot out of the back of the dash. We scrambled to get the bug started again but that Painless button will have to be replaced. The starter engaged during his run, and ran until he got back to the grid where I pulled the back of the starter button off again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rymkcAR1PyU

First October event: My front damping improvements helped but I might add a bit more to see if front grip starts falling off again. Overall the bug is very predictable and easy to place in line, however the open diff is still a big achilles heel. With a nearly full tank I didn't get the hesitation issues I had before, so I'm pretty sure I was starving out the pickup in the fuel cell. After replacing the starter button, I discovered that the starter motor was cooked from engaging while the bug was racing around. The new starter is in but its planetary gearset makes the worst noise.

During this event our group was seriously short, and we basically hot-lapped 8 runs between 2 drivers. It didn't leave much time for tire pressure checking or adjustment, and the tires were gaining 2psi every couple of runs or so. All in all I finished just behind my nemesis by .3 sec, and barring him missing an event, he'll take the championship this year. Well fought! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LwpUI6ZtUg

Lastly, I have a new project I'm working out. Just bought a 71 super from the original owner, clean straight body, no accidents, and it's never left the SF Bay area. I'll get a build thread started once it has a name and direction, but I'm leaning toward a J-spec germanlook build.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Joy/iPhoneUpload.jpg~original

NO_H2O

October 15th 2012, 01:11

Nice 71. Should be a great platform to work from.

Humble

October 22nd 2012, 14:01

Did a little bit of work to the bug on Sunday, and the trailer too. One of the tires on the race trailer has had a leak, so once the bug was off the trailer I took the opportunity to patch the tire. Also fixed the trailer brake on that side, looks like something had cut the wire.

As per my autox organization, I had to put the muffler back on, Lucy is just too loud without it. Spent the afternoon cutting and re-welding the old setup to work with the new turbo, and not hit the decklid. I borrowed my buddy's gasless mig (which i really hate) and I had a hell of a time with it burning through. The welds are hideous but it'll hold until the end of the season.

While I was making sure the exhaust wasn't leaking I noticed the BOV was not doing it's job. Turns out I plumbed the sense line wrong when I put the new wastegate in, oops! Hopefully any damage to the turbo was minimal.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload-5.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload-4.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload-2.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload.jpg~original

Humble

October 29th 2012, 14:45

Event #11 is now out of the way and into the books. Results aren't in yet but I believe i had 1st by more than half a second. It was a very technical course this time with some very tight gates that meant threading the needle at speed. Victory comes with some bad news though, the new starter crapped out in the middle of the event. It's supposed to be a high torque high rpm starter but after 10 or so starts it died. It looked cheap when I got it so I'm not surprised and it's covered under warranty. Since we couldn't shut down the car between runs the oil and heads started getting hot, with the heads clearing 410F and the oil touching 250F. I chanced a 3rd run, which was my fastest, then trailered the bug and it sounded rough until I shut it off. The oil pressure light came on a couple times while idling but pressure was fine during the run so I hope nothing was damaged. I'm going to drain the oil and take a look at it to make sure there's no glitter then it's off to the last race in 2 weeks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfOMESTj6rc

Humble

November 12th 2012, 17:59

End of the 2012 race season!!

First off, the starter replacement and the oil issues. Last week I pulled the starter, again, and replaced it in about 20 minutes now that I have the process down. Checked the oil and it was fouled but glitter free, so I left the filters alone and topped it off with fresh oil. It seems like a waste to just run the oil for 1 race but oh well. She fired right up and sounded fine. Oil pressure was good but oil temps stayed cold so I'd have to wait for the race to see if she over heated again. As a precaution, I reconnected the oil cooler fan just in case.

On race day it was cold, very cold for California any way. It was 29F when I rolled out of the driveway at 6AM and was 35F when I rolled into Marina, CA after 7AM. It was raining on Saturday and I was expecting it to be damp Sunday morning but it was dry and cold. The course was designed to be a wet one, which means it was open, but in the dry it was fast. I got up to almost 70mph down the straight mid-course. The cold air was great for a power boost, but did not help the tires at all. My tire pressures stayed about 14-14.5psi in front and 15-15.5 out back. I found it better to bog the car at the bottom of the power band than to rev it out and make her nervous on cold tires. I had top time of day for while in the morning and it felt so good. I'm hoping I finally broke into the top 10 this event, if not I was very close.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwl7-Vi-mRQ

At the end of the day I had 1st in OSP by .6 seconds, but my nemesis squeaks by with the OSP championship this year by 9 points. I finished 2nd in OSP and 9th in the overall standings, and my co-driver finished 4th in OSP which is not too shabby. Even though it was a 2nd place finish, this has been one of the most rewarding and fun racing seasons I've had. Lucy has proven to be a great bug and with a little more development she will be a serious force to be reckoned with.

I'd like to thank: Sean my co-driver for helping out, ferrying parts, and warming tires. CB Performance for supplying much of the motor, fuel injection and turbo, as well as Pat for his thoughts on the motor build. Bugformance San Jose for helping me with the odds and ends, and Jeff for being a sounding board for my crazy ideas. Rancho for building a fantastic race tranny that won't quit that has done over 3000 race miles now. Mendeola for helping give me the edge back with a suspension brace that performs awesome.

DORIGTT

November 16th 2012, 17:25

Hey Humble,

IIRC you installed a DRD turbo header correct? What's it been like for you from installation to fit to performance?

Thanks,

NO_H2O

November 18th 2012, 09:48

Congrats on a fine season. I have enjoyed all the videos and look forward to next season.

Humble

November 19th 2012, 19:45

Hey Humble,

IIRC you installed a DRD turbo header correct? What's it been like for you from installation to fit to performance?

Thanks,

The fit was tight with the Mendeola stiffy brace but it did fit once I figured out how to get it in the car around everything else. Performance wise it's a much better setup than the CB header, spaced higher up and back slightly to give the crank pulley more room for a trigger wheel.

Humble

December 4th 2012, 15:23

2012 Season wrap-up!

I learned a lot this season, about the car, and her drivers:
-I really miss driving her on the street, more than I thought I would, which is why I picked up a new street bug.
-Riding with my co-driver/tire-warmer and then driving has given me more insight on my own driving style.
-An upgrade for next year is data acquisition and logging to improve further.
-Sticky tires are a lot of fun... when you get heat in them, and tire pressures will be watched more closely next year.
-Shocks and sways make a difference, but balancing them make magic happen.
-A tow rig and trailer are not only worth their weight in gold on cold mornings and hot afternoons, but go far in reducing driver fatigue at the end of the day.

We had our club year end awards party on Sunday where I was pleasantly surprised and humbled. First off I was given the Spirit-of-George award, which is given to folks who over come medical problems for the chance to go racing. The award's namesake had a brutal battle with cancer, enduring aggressive chemo treatments, but he fought hard just so he could go racing again. I remember seeing George when he returned after a year hiatus, and I joked with him that his diet was working so much better than mine. He was in such great spirits just being there you would never have known he was sick. He succumbed to cancer about a year and a half ago and this award was created in his honor. I was given this award for my multi-year fight against blindness. The past 5 years of detached retinas, eyes surgeries, infections, and corneal defects, could not stop me from getting behind the wheel. Even if I did go blind, I'd be driving with a cane, and put my seeing-eye-dog in the passenger seat. I am truly humbled to receive this award, and it means a lot to me.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/SCAN0022.jpg~original

In class results I finished 2nd for the season by 9 points, or 1 race deficit, what a close year. It was back and forth all year but in the end I couldn't pull off the upset.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/SCAN0021.jpg~original

The surprise came in the overall results where I finished 8th in the index out of 160+ runners, but I managed to beat the top buggy runner Greg McNair. Greg drives a balls out manx buggy built for hill climbs, and gives me a good ribbing for driving a fat chick. We have a standing bet for $50 if I can beat his raw time and I've come close. I wonder if index points count? ;)

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/SCAN0023.jpg~original

Wally

December 4th 2012, 15:51

Great report, very deserved and what a cool pics that first one especially!

NO_H2O

December 4th 2012, 20:17

Nice story. It's good to see that all of your efforts made everyone take notice. Keep pushing and I am sure you will edge out the old manx.

DORIGTT

December 4th 2012, 23:27

Once you get it sorted out, you can use the MS2 to control boost too. You can also use a pair of electic S/O valves and a switch, split the boost sense line to both the MS2 ECU and the manual boost controler, set one for 5 lbs and and the other for 15 lbs (ie. STUN and KILL settings). :D

S/O valves?

NO_H2O

December 5th 2012, 07:54

Shut Off valves. Sorry.

Humble

January 27th 2013, 20:04

It seems like every winter I put the race bug into hibernation, and every year i forget how much fun she is to drive. I pulled the bug out and took her for a spin to cycle the fluids. I needed to put some fresh gas in her anyway so why not. I happened to run across a worked over e36 m3 and we had a bit of fun in the mountains. We chatted for a bit and he was surprised that a bug could be so quick. The autox season doesn't start until later february this year due to fallout from an event with a karting club last year, so I have plenty of time to give the bug a once over.

As a side note, I was going to put this up before and never did. It's a little trick for pulling rubber and gravel out of sticky rubber after a track day or autox. This works with slicks or sticky street tires. Find yourself a curry comb, used for dogs or horses, with rows jagged teeth like this one:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8508/8421969736_9bcf05c85b_c.jpg

Be rough with it and drag it across the tire to pull the gravel and rubber out. It easier if you do this while the tire is still hot, but it'll still work if the tire has cooled off. Here's a pice that's half and half so you can see how well it works.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8235/8420874629_a8a114d1fd_c.jpg

volkdent

January 28th 2013, 04:10

Great idea! Im always wearing out my gloves brushing off the pebbles...

Jason

Humble

February 28th 2013, 15:37

Big updates are looming! I have purchases pending and soon parts with be shipping!

Looking to get:
beautiful tubular arms from vw1303
hopefully some 935 style spring plates from Alex
subaru swap wide sump and maybe radiator from bug@5speed

Already ordered:
US spec 2005 EJ25 sti motor
Subaru gears, mounts, flip r&p, stubs, and trans conversion bits
ty754xxxx sti 5spd trans

I haven't received anything yet but this will be a crazy process. The race bug gets new race bits and subaru motor, and the street bug gets a lot of race bug hand-me-downs. I promise lots of updates and video on both cars very soon!

chug_A_bug

February 28th 2013, 17:12

AWESOME!!!!!!!! Let the CAR PORN begin...
can't wait to see all this happen :)

Chris.

Steve C

February 28th 2013, 19:06

Hi

Regarding your curry comb idea, a lot of the local hill climbers wrap their tyres in Gladwrap after a run and before entering the pits, you need a lot of Gladwrap and helpers to do this.

Steve

cookvw

March 1st 2013, 00:31

humble...IM SOOO EXCITED FOR THIS!!! soo stoked! ill surly be watching.

-Alex-

March 3rd 2013, 07:53

Vow...subaru drivetrain:) I kinda liked your turboed vw engine. If with vw engine it was fast, it be a whole lot faster with subaru sti 2.5 engine:lmao: Are we talking about close to 300hp engine at stock form?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subaru_EJ_engine#EJ25

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Subaru_EJ257_turbo.jpg

Humble

March 3rd 2013, 21:14

Nice cut-away! With only 2wd through the subaru gearbox I'm expecting similar numbers from the stock sti ej257 that I get from my built race motor, around 330hp/300ft.lbs. Not really a fair comparison as the ej257 will be intercooled and my current race motor is not. With only a few upgrades one of my competitors is getting 420whp from his sti on E85.

Ultimately my goal with the sti motor is 400-450hp, all day long at the track without overheating. Then I think I'll be happy... for a while ;)

volkdent

March 4th 2013, 13:34

Awesome! Welcome to the dark side!

Jason

Humble

March 9th 2013, 16:48

I don't even know where to start with this. First off, I don't condone this behavior, but I am a tame racing driver, so I'm not perfect.

I took Lucy out for a spin this morning, to meet a friend for breakfast at a well known restaurant in the mountains. I like going there because all manner of machinery, car or bike, shows up or drives by. After a nice breakfast I headed back home along a lazy winding road that follows the ridge line. Now I will admit I was driving quickly and having some fun but as I settled down I noticed a sleek black car gaining on me. I fed Lucy a little more go juice, and the black car followed. A little more from me, a little more from him and so on until we are at unreasonable/imprudent speeds. Race track speeds. We continued for a couple miles then I slowed down for him to pass, and I followed him for a bit. Now I could see clearly what had been chasing me, and I smiled wide at the back of a McLaren MP4-12C. Now it was my turn to chase, and he was quick. The driver knew the road and the car, but not as well as I knew mine. Again we continued into unreasonable/imprudent speeds but he couldn't shake me. I noticed that even on crap tires, I could corner harder than he could, and we accelerated at the same rate until aerodynamics started holding me back. He would start to inch away but I could out brake and out turn him. This continued for another 5 miles until we came to a little turn out area, he pulled in and I followed him.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/DOTS/IMG_0643_zps3ff8f1ff.jpg~original

When we popped out of the cars, I told him he could tell all his friends what just happened and no one would believe him. :) We chatted for a bit and I grabbed some pics of his car and he got a bunch of the bug. He said he was driving the McLaren fairly hard and if I had to guess we were both at around 8/10ths. Below 90mph the two of us were pretty evenly matched.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/DOTS/IMG_0646_zps16cd9990.jpg~original

Then, after about 5 minutes his friends started showing up, more, and more, and more! I felt like a kid in a toy store.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/DOTS/IMG_0644_zps165216f2.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/DOTS/IMG_0647_zpse3043fdb.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/DOTS/IMG_0649_zps229d3b20.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/DOTS/IMG_0650_zps1734b8c3.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/DOTS/IMG_0652_zps73eac8da.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/DOTS/IMG_0653_zps9ce195f6.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/DOTS/IMG_0654_zps3f38680b.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/DOTS/IMG_0656_zpsd283d242.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/DOTS/IMG_0658_zpsad7c40e0.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/DOTS/IMG_0661_zpsa3ad92ff.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/DOTS/IMG_0660_zps287276ac.jpg~original

A bunch of folks were asking about the bug, and the McLaren driver did tell everyone that he couldn't shake the bug but no one believed him. As it turns out the whole group was out for a cruise and the McLaren driver was trying to "catch up" with them. Some how he ended up in front of them and that's when he found me. We all chatted and stretched a bit before heading down to Boulder Creek, another stop in their cruise and some much needed gas for me. I split off from the group there and headed back home, but not before trading emails with the McLaren driver.

I know the bug is fast, scary fast, but now I can put that into a bit of perspective. Lucy is as quick as a McLaren MP4-12C :eek: The biggest downside to this story? I left my gopro at home *facepalm*

PS: Don't do any of this, ever! Holy sh*t we went fast, like one-mistake-and-you'll-ball-it-up fast.

Gerrelt

March 9th 2013, 19:04

Very cool!! :yes:

Steve C

March 9th 2013, 19:06

Hi

Great read, there is the US National debt in that car park.

Steve

cookvw

March 9th 2013, 22:53

wow humble, im sitting here reading this with my gf, we where amazed, truly inspires my build i got going on. a once in a life time chance to really see how a once economical car with a little bit of money, a skilled driver, can go a long long way. humble...im so jelious of your run in with the super car club.

70Turbobug

March 10th 2013, 07:16

Awesome! I love stories like that! That is what makes such a build worthwhile! Nice of the Mclaren guy to chat with you about it and not be pissed off because he spent hundreds of thousands on his car.Cool stuff!

Wally

March 10th 2013, 10:53

Very cool story and awesome pics of these multidollar supercars, but where's your beetle? A pic of the 1303 with those cars in the same shot is even cooler of course.

Humble

March 10th 2013, 15:23

Wally, You can see the bug off to the side in a couple of the shots, I was parked next to the testarossa and 458. It's a small car in this crowd :D

Steve C, this group isn't the type to put a loan on a car, it's either leased or purchased out right.

cookvw, I'm still jazzed about it. I've lived here 7 years and dreamed about something like this happening but I never thought it would.

70Turbobug, I was afraid that they would be a snooty bunch, but a lot of them were car guys and very cool. Lots of them came over to check out the bug and they were genuinely interested in it.

Wally

March 10th 2013, 15:30

Found her! The guy on the pole is standing mostly in front of your car and you didn't even see it when you took the pic haha!
Being chased by a MP12C and talk with the owner afterwards about it, how cool is that!

SuperRSi

March 10th 2013, 17:57

I just read this whole thread. Very funny because I have had a Manx project and my 79 Convert project going for too many years. As the Manx went from mild to wild then wilder and got a Mendeola suspension the MBT with Kerscher coilovers suspension went to the Bug and have followed the same process as you. The Bug gets the hand me down race car parts. Thought you might want to see a shot of the STi setup we are building for the Manx. As the fabricator Tigwerks does this in his spare time, it has taken us over 14 long months to get this far. It is killing me. If you get a chance post up some shots of your buddys autocross Manx. I have a Manx build thread on NASIOC Conversions but have not taken the time to put one up here. Let me know if you guys want one here.

Oh and the muffler will swing up when done.

http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/k636/GreatFX/stiwwastemuffclose_zps602c6c84.jpg~original

Jadewombat

March 11th 2013, 19:02

I love hearing that. I've been on several drives over the years, my favorite was in the Arizona desert very late at night up in the hills and mountains with friends.

I've also seen several high-dollar cars with owners that CFD. Like you said though, not that it's a race, it's just fun to go out and open things up a bit. It just sucks when you get stuck behind someone really overcautious or likewise someone who does think it's a race and rides a little too close really spoils the mood.

volkdent

March 13th 2013, 00:52

That is just awesome!!!! I love it when all the stars align and something so magical happens with timing. I've been blessed to be hounding some Mc's in the last few weeks, thought you might want a peak!

Laguna Seca (http://youtu.be/7n79oo-xP04)

ThunderHill (http://youtu.be/n8-9WTpLqGo)

Keep your GoPro handy at all times ferchrisake!!!!

Jason

Bug@5speed(US)

March 14th 2013, 12:06

Jason what car are u running.

Think u may have mentioned it before, sur looks like a roundel up front. If I had to guess an e35 but the sound did not match?

Regardless nice line and runs at those cars
Alex

Humble

March 15th 2013, 17:03

SuperRSi, I've been following your build on the NASIOC for a while, and I have one concern. It seems like the front tires are wasted since they will never be on the ground... ;)

Jason, you should have hit me up when you were at laguna seca, my house is about an hour north of there on your way home! Also, what groups were you running with at laguna seca and thunder hill?

SuperRSi

March 17th 2013, 06:04

It will be interesting to see if there is any front tire wear. The parts are headed my way so maybe an update in the next few weeks.

Humble

March 21st 2013, 00:40

The new STI motor arrived a few days ago and I couldn't leave it well enough alone. It's actually from an 07 STI, which means it has e-throttle so that will have to get replaced. I started stripping it down looking for dirty secrets, but in looks good on the surface and even the belts were in great shape.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zps48082a78.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zps8507b83f.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zps6dd73090.jpg~original

I have an 11lb. alu. flywheel and a TY754VBAAA trans on the way, both should be here by next week. I already picked up an OBX diff for the tranny, and even though it's new it still needs to be gone through. With the additional work it's worth the money. I also got a TGV (tumble generator valve) delete kit, so that'll be a weekend project.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zps1219ba91.jpg~original

In racing news, the 2013 season is finally getting underway. I went to a different series event last weekend that's mainly geared towards muscle cars and they setup a fast course. Unfortunately, my throttle cable snapped 100ft. into my first run and my day was done. I usually have a spare, but didn't have one with me this time. I was pretty bummed until I realized a few things.

1. I trailered the bug there so I didn't need to drive it home.
2. The organizers refunded my entry because I had already done my work assignment and now couldn't drive.
3. If I had to break a part on the car, I'm glad it was one of the cheapest. Earlier in the day, a car lunched it's trans after 3 runs.

Having realized my day could have been a lot worse, I started feeling a lot better. There's another autox with NorcalUFO (my usual group) this weekend, so I really want to get out there now :)

DORIGTT

March 22nd 2013, 14:58

You don't quit do you Will?

volkdent

March 24th 2013, 01:26

Jason, you should have hit me up when you were at laguna seca, my house is about an hour north of there on your way home! Also, what groups were you running with at laguna seca and thunder hill?

I know, I felt like an idiot not remembering. I did bring a friend down with me and he's not a bug guy so I probably will stop by when I'm alone.

I was instructing with HOD in both events in the e36 M3.

You're bug is going to kick butt!!!

Jason

petevw

March 24th 2013, 03:28

Wicked story.

A lot of nice toys in that lot.

Humble

March 25th 2013, 13:53

DORIGTT, I'll stop when I'm bored :D BTW, next time you hit sunnyvale vw you should tell the guys there about your ride in my bug, especially Samer. He's the one I bought the golf through.

Volkdent, Do you usually instruct with HOD? That's one of the few groups I haven't run with and I was wondering what they're like?

=============

Now on to the good stuff! I started tearing into the STI motor some more to see what I bought, but the more I looked, the more I liked. I pulled off the crank pulley and timing cover to take a look at the timing belt and crank trigger wheel. The timing belt was in great shape and didn't have any cracking or defects much like the accessory belts I pulled off. The trigger wheel is a 36-2-2-2 setup which will make setting up the megasquirt nice and easy since it's a supported tooth profile.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zps5b41fe52.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zpsfa0063f1.jpg~original

While I was at it, I pulled the coils and spark plugs, and checked down the bores with a bore-scope. Cylinders and piston tops look great, and the plugs are all iridium tip gapped to .028". Coloration on the plugs was good and there was no debris or flecks that signal detonation. While the plugs were out I put a squirt of oil down the bores and put the motor through a few rotations and everything is smooth.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zpsb49242c0.jpg~original

Got my new (to me) flywheel in this week. It's a gently used Aasco aluminum 11lbs. flywheel that should be perfect for race duty, purchased off one of the nasioc guys. I had to run down to the subaru dealer to grab some flywheel bolts and I'm hoping I can use the vw flywheel tool to help tighten them.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zpsc87d610c.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zps9cd27621.jpg~original

I spent the day Saturday on this little project. On the newer Subarus they have a small half-butterfly in the intake called the tumble generator valve, or TGV, that helps develop turbulence which keeps fuel droplets suspended in the air and improves low speed driveability. Unfortunately, even when they are wide open they block a lot of airflow, about 50%. I've seen TGV delete manifolds for sale but I figured I could do the work myself and it would be a fun project.

First step, pulled the butterflies and shafts from the TGV bodies. I got excited ( a little frustrated ) and had to drill the screws out of the butterflies which seems to be a common problem, but in the effort I forgot to take pics. Here's the TGV body in the vice, and I already removed the divider on the left side with a hacksaw. The TGV only blocks about 65-70% of the opening and you can see the lip the butterfly rests on in the body.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zps46639055.jpg~original

After a little work with a die grinder to smooth the edges here's a nearly finished TGV body, and then both of them together.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zps3e7b5d61.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zps1830f861.jpg~original

Once they're all cleaned up, you put in some plugs where the throttle shafts were and you're done! All in all it took about 3-4 hours to complete and should make a big difference in flow, especially since I took the time to port match the TGV bodies while I was at it.

================

But wait, there's more! This is like the never ending update. It was also a race weekend! During the week I had replaced the throttle cable, and tweaked the tune to help the cold start a bit. The bug was running much better, and more than a couple folks had noticed at the autox. The course was very tight and technical, which is kind of a bastard thing to do for the first run of the season while folks are rusty. The last few corners were particularly bad with 150 degree turn backs between short sprints. I managed a 50.117 and beat my nemesis by .040 seconds, so close!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDkgARva40Y

volkdent

March 28th 2013, 20:38

Will, HOD is pretty much all I instruct with now, there is no charge, in fact the last Thunderhill one they paid me $200 to do, so that can't be beat. I'll do Audi and BMW club, but BMW has only a couple of events a year and Audi still has the instructors paying half price, they do have a dedicated instructor run group though, and HOD is kind of a free for all, you get on the track during sessions you're not instructing.

I found this, it happened in your neck of the woods, look out for this one!!!

Wrecked Exotics McLaren MP4-12C (http://www.wreckedexotics.com/newphotos/exotics2013mar25/2013-mclaren-mp4-12c-7323.shtml)

Jason

Humble

March 29th 2013, 12:46

Once I get the bug finished I'll have to take it out to a HOD event :D

That's probably the same mp4-12c that was in the supercar group I came across in the mountains, I know right where that pic was taken.

Humble

April 2nd 2013, 01:30

Got some more parts in this week. Finally got my transmission, and TY754VBAAA from a ver 5/6 sti.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zpsf0749e14.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zpsf2afdb37.jpg~original

After doing some research the flywheel I picked up is for a modern subaru 6spd which has a larger 228mm clutch disk and beefier pressure plate. It'll work with the trans but not without some modification. There's a bunch of webbing in the bellhousing that will need to be clearanced and i'll have to do lots of test fits with the motor off the stand.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zpse2f6f474.jpg~original

I also got my new megasquirt MS3X ecu this week. I opted for a prebuilt unit with a couple mods, the mapdaddy 4bar dual baro sensor, and the real time clock to time stamp logs. I've temporarily turned the dining room table into a lab and started testing and programming the MS3X. I'm looking into a lot of new features I didn't use/have on the ms2.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zpsb7a783e7.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zpsb3db1d5c.jpg~original

What I've setup so far:
waste fire ignition
batch fire injection
radiator fan control
tach output
boost control through table blending
water injection pump control
water injection valve control
front axle VSS input
transmission output shaft VSS input
VSS output to drive speedo
traction control with dial-a-slip

That's it so far, I'm still configuring everything. I need to get a couple 3 wire potentiometers to use with the adjustable boost and traction control settings. I have the wiring looms ready to go and once the motor and tranny are ready the fun can begin!

Humble

April 24th 2013, 20:32

The subaru swap hit the skids while I work on Joy but that doesn't stop me from going out and racing. Event #2 was this past sunday and boy was it nice. I was running in the afternoon, which was pretty hot until the wind picked up, and it was a light crowd thanks to competing events. I didn't have a co-driver this time so the car only did half it's normal amount of runs... which taught me a lot. Oil, tire, and head temps were all down, heads stayed around 375, oil around 150F, and the front tires never got sticky. Without a co-driver I had to wait longer between runs and in that time the front tires lost all temp, which means all grip. I was .9 sec behind my nemesis in the turbo miata which means I was losing about 1 sec from cold tires.

I was going to add a little more front shock to see if it would help stabilize the car under braking, but I was also thinking I might decrease the front camber as well and go back down to -1.5 or -1.3. I'm not getting onto the front tire shoulders at all even with low tire temps, so I can probably dial out some camber.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xYVSlOUVuM

Humble

May 7th 2013, 13:09

Event #3 for 2013 and another double points grab. I was running in the afternoon again, and the weather was great. Well, except for the random 40-50mph gusts and large dust devils that wrecked the course a few times. I played with the tire pressures a bit, raising the front to 18psi and the rears to 17psi. That got a lot more grip out of the front than I've had in a while but the rears were now sliding around. She was a handful but with the front sticking better I was able to go faster than before. The fun was short lived, however, since after each run I could hear the exhaust note changing. I had a small exhaust leak, not that big of a deal, but the car started to lose power which was very noticeable off boost. By the end of the group we were pretty much hot-lapping the car, and after my 3rd run I knew something was off. I tried to get a 4th run out of her anyway since I was about 1.5 seconds off top time of day, but halfway through the run the oil light started coming on and I shut her down. I ended up with a 44.4 which should have put me in the top 10 raw times with my 3rd run, and still beat my nemesis by .3 sec which was good for 1st place.

The victory is bittersweet though, and I think the cam might be going as well as the exhaust gasket. There's now a rush to get the sti motor and trans in the bug before the next event in June. I don't think it'll happen by then but we'll see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjRO2UR_-gQ

Humble

May 16th 2013, 17:53

Moar updates!

Despite racing and breaking things, work does actually continue on the car, but I have to apologize for not updating in a timely fashion.

I finally got some parts in over the past couple weeks. I got my cast aluminum 2 piece shortened sump, and I finally got my transmission conversion goodies from the land down under. Subarugears makes a flip ring & pinion kit for the 5sp and I'm way impressed with the quality. Besides the R&P the kit comes with a setup tool, center diff spool, plug for the shortened center diff housing, output shafts (mine are type2/porsche pattern), a machined shift knob and a couple of stickers for good measure.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6032_zpse7316946.jpg~original

This week I've been working on the transmission and tearing it down to see what I bought. It's a TY754VBAAA from a 99-01 ver. 5/6 STI and supposedly one of the strongest 5sp built, or so I've read. It came apart in short order, found lots of corrosion on the through bolts that clamp the transmission together, not sure if that's normal galvanic corrosion or what. Before tear down I checked the shift action and it was still tight and notchy which gave me hope.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6033_zps5b756bc5.jpg~original

Looking at the gear stacks, they didn't look bad at all. First and second syncros got beat up pretty good but I've definitely seen worse. I tried to get close up pictures of the synchros but dropped my camera instead. :P I never did take the pics and now the stacks are off getting rebuilt with the new pinion shaft.

Another quick project that didn't get photos is rebuilding the OBX lsd. I got the rbryant kit, tore apart the OBX expecting to resurface it and was pleasantly surprised. The OBX wasn't perfect but was very serviceable in the shape I received it. The bolts and washers were replaced anyway as a precaution and everything bolted back together just like it should.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zps41b5bc97.jpg~original

Last night I modified the case to accept the flipped differential. This is going to look so wrong to subaru guys :) I used a grinding disc to take care of most of it and I have some flap discs that I'll use to smooth things out later. I accidentally ground through the case on one of the bolt holes so that will have to be patched up later. For now the diff fits and spins easily with no contact and plenty on clearance.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6036_zpse4742f31.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6038_zps1ce8d5eb.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6039_zpsbe24b48a.jpg~original

Next on my to do list is to clearance the bell housing for the sti clutch parts. I have an Exedy stage 1 STI pressure plate and disk on the way and once they are here I can check for interference.

Humble

May 29th 2013, 21:04

Big holiday weekend means lots of car work! I started the weekend by working on the other project first and finishing up the rear suspension. I finished the weekend by pulling the motor out of the race bug.

First up, got my gear stacks back with a collection of new gaskets, seals and shims.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zps3781801f.jpg~original

Also got the new pressure plate and clutch, Exedy stage 1
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zpsd7f3e135.jpg~original
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zps88750d98.jpg~original

Lastly I got some wiring components in, 100' of 8 colors, 14ga, chemical and heat resistant wire, and a couple of 22pin bulkhead connectors.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zps7fe2e148.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zps9832c0bd.jpg~original

"I should have this outta here by dinner!" Nope. Drained 2.5 gallons of oil from the tank, then some from the motor, then some from the lines... and there was still oil dripping from here and there. I didn't get a picture of it but the header had separated at the slip fit. That would cause all the symptoms I was having right before I trailered it. Still going to check the lift at the valves to be certain.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0734_zpse09c7abf.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0736_zps31d82b26.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zpsacb69106.jpg~original

It took a while to get the header, intake plumbing, and oil lines out of the way. Besides where the header separated there was only a bit of an exhaust leak on #4 and everything else had sealed tight.

Sunday, I started pulling everything else to get the motor out and on the stand before BBQ time. Fuel lines out, and manifolds off, and the motor pops out nice and easy. I wheeled the EJ25 out of the garage for some good comparison shots before cleaning up.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zpsf3c4dbb0.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zps6f1aff25.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zps8e2f55bb.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zpsa6f6aef0.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zpsac0cf5f3.jpg~original

Transmission comes out next then it's time to pull the seats and the oil tank. The subaru trans needs to be finished up in the coming days, and wiring is also on the horizon, which will be a tedious job, but should be easier with the wiring diagram I've been working on.

volkdent

May 30th 2013, 13:00

Maybe get some A/B weights of those things while you have apples and apples to compare?

Jason

Humble

May 30th 2013, 19:18

I wish I had a scale that could measure them, but I can already say that the type 1 is easier to move around with a couple guys than the ej25. I'm hoping the ej25 gets a little lighter once it's drained (it shipped full of oil) and the header/turbo come off, but I don't know if that will even things out.

Humble

June 3rd 2013, 17:33

Got some more work done on the car this weekend, even though it was 95F+ in the driveway on saturday. I spent most of saturday inside designing the new wiring harness and reading up on the MS3X VVT control. I want to see about using that for the ej25, but it adds 10 wires to the engine harness. Once it cooled off outside I started trimming down the center diff housing for the subaru trans. The guys at subarugears put an awesome video up on youtube that shows where to cut.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXEUSVSpGHg

On sunday I headed over the Ambryn's place to get some help welding up the center diff housing, and to meet up with Ron who has a subaru swapped porsche 912. The 3 of us are at different stages in our swaps and so far have picked eachother's brains quite a bit. After chatting a bit (hours) Ron headed home and Ambryn and I got to work, but really Ambryn worked and I supervised.

Cleaning up some shoddy grinding that *somebody* did and making it look pretty
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6048_zps67ac64dc.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6047_zps12f8e6e9.jpg~original

Looks much better after removing what's left of the freeze plug boss
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6050_zps98636124.jpg~original

Ambryn welded up the subaplug and the leftover holes. He blasted it afterwards to check for pin holes and clean it up.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6051_zps29748b7c.jpg~original

I treated Ambryn to lunch and a great little taqueria (a staple food for me) and headed home to get a little more work done. Sean, my tire warmer/co-driver, came up to give me a hand for a bit. We pulled the seats out to make getting into the back easier to pull engine/ecu wiring and oil lines.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6057_zps58cfb20c.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6056_zpsa021272f.jpg~original

While I was at it I pulled the shift coupler free and Sean removed the trans and trans strap kit from the back.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6053_zps8df6848c.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6055_zps2171720b.jpg~original

I've been going over cage re-design ideas in my head a lot recently. I haven't been happy with the cage because it cuts into the driver space too much and it needs to be closer to the A/B pillars. I also want to eliminate the rear package tray so the firewall slopes from the bottom of the rear window to just above the transmission nosecone. That will give more room for the turbo and oil cooler underneath but I'll have to modify the rear cage stays. I'm contemplating chopping the cage forward of the main hoop, then shortening the rear cage stays to match the new firewall, and staying with a 4 point until a new cage can be welded in.

SuperRSi

June 9th 2013, 16:56

Progress looks great! How nice that the three of you can get together and discuss different ideas in person. Very lucky on that count.

Humble

June 22nd 2013, 01:58

Things have slowed down a bit, but progress continues. Work has been killing me lately so I spent last weekend out camping near Yosemite with a bunch of friends and it was a great way to unwind. I learned a valuable lesson about drinking at 8000', not too much and not too fast.

I got some new parts in that will go on the car soon. Back in March or so I put an order in for these 935-style adjustable spring plates and they finally came in. They are 7075-T6 aluminum, with a burly M20 heim for the pivot, and grade 12.8 hardware throughout. Thanks Alex!

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/uniball944system70751_zps781fa53b.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6060_zpsf3e2467c.jpg~original

They replace the spring plates forward of the rear disk in this picture.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6061_zps86bd5333.jpg~original

I bolted up the rear motor mount/adapter from subarugears.com since I was worried it might not clear the mendeola rear suspension brace. It's a tight fit but it works.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6063_zps2d95f2a7.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6064_zpsa952751a.jpg~original

Speaking of Mendeola, I saw that they offered their own mounts for the subaru swaps, so I ordered their front mount and shift rod coupler. Top notch parts from great guys!

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6065_zps63e8f4c4.jpg~original

Racing season is still in full swing but the car is on blocks, what to do? I called my friend (and closest competitor/nemesis) Ian to see if I could co-drive his car. Ian has an OSP '99 miata with the Flyin' Miata catalog thrown at it and it's a fast car, faster and better setup than my beetle. Well, I was able to best Ian in his own car by 1.23 seconds, and drive it to a 7th overall in raw time, and 4th in pax. It's not all bad, I did pay his entry, and he had a datalogger going so he can compare our runs to learn from the whole thing. I learned quite a bit as well, like how wonderful an lsd is and what lack of understeer feels like on turn-in. I'm pretty jealous I have to say, it's a sweet ride.

UFO 2013 Autox #4 07-9-13 - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-7ekiU4q3w)

Mr_Zed_ZX20

June 24th 2013, 12:41

Good to see things are coming along, I've been watching your progress for some time as we seem to have the same goals in mind. So when are you gonna bite the bullet and put the Mendeola S2 suspension under your car? I'd say it would probably help reduce if not almost eliminate the understeer you're experiencing now. I can't wait to see how your car does with the new tranny and powerplant, keep up the good work.

Humble

June 24th 2013, 14:46

Mr_Zed_ZX20: I would love to throw the S2 suspension under the car but it's still a bit cost prohibitive, about the same cost as the entire subaru swap. The front suspension would help a lot but I'm learning that many of my handling issues are mostly setup related. The 1302/1302 suspension is capable of much more than folks give it credit for and I'm still trying to get the most out of it (nevermind the porsche updates, its still struts up front and semi-trailing arm rear).

Now that being said, I may end up with the S2 suspension parts on my street car :lmao:

Mr_Zed_ZX20

June 25th 2013, 13:55

Yeah, the S2 setup is a bit spendy. I bought mine last year with the money I had set aside for my ex's engagement ring after she broke up with me, lol. Needless to say, I think the S2 was a better choice (less complaining, etc). Unfortunately, its STILL sitting in my garage waiting for me to install it along with my Boxster S brakes. If all goes well I'll be starting on it in a few weeks.

Humble

August 6th 2013, 12:40

Overdue update:

I've been crazy busy with vacations and work since the end of June. I was either out of town or running around with friends who were in town. I was able to work on the trans here and there, but made it more difficult than it needed to be.

When I got the aluminum Aasco flywheel I didn't know there was a difference in the STI and WRX parts. When I did some digging I saw that you could clearance the bell housing to make it work. Not really....

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6072_zpsffcf2181.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6071_zps8b546a92.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6075_zpsc6216cc8.jpg~original

I trimmed the webbing around the bell housing to clear the flywheel and clutch and did my first test fit. the bottom inspection opening isn't big enough and the clutch fork pivot is too close. It clears on one side but as I ground a hole in the bell housing near the starter boss to make it fit on the other side I saw it wasn't going to work.

Ambryn came to my rescue and welded up the hole for me, but I didn't get any good pics of it before the repair work. I had to grind the starter boss flat again, and profile the area where the clutch fork pivot shaft plug goes in. I needed to re-tap the hole as well since the threads melted a bit from the filler work.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6078_zpsdcbf2486.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6079_zps6e84aa2f.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6083_zpsc499e45e.jpg~original

Now with the trans cleaned up I can put it together

Humble

August 6th 2013, 13:37

Things went together easy enough when I remembered to include things like the vss drive gear and shaft :P After cleaning the case halves to remove all the aluminum dust I dropped the driven shaft in to do the shim measurement. You put it in without shims first and use the subarugears tool to find out how many shims to add.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6085_zps29b904ae.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6086_zpsd7a62c38.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6088_zps2dc16242.jpg~original

The pinion depth shims are cheap so I ordered a bunch in different thicknesses ahead of time to have them on hand since every dealership I talked to didn't keep any in stock.

Next I turned to the bearing races and seals for the differential. Just mark then loosen the adjustment cups on either side, the bearing will probably fall out while you are doing this. Replace the o-ring and the axle seal, make sure that the seals are the the "wrong" side. Left goes on the right and vise versa, that way the oil grooves are in the correct orientation for the reversed R&P.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6089_zps7cf5de63.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6090_zps01784d03.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6114_zpsd8dd8509.jpg~original

Quick note about the differential. I got an OBX LSD and replaced the washers and bolts "just in case". Before i put the ring gear on, I tested the output shafts and they were too tight to go on. I used a dremel to run the grooves on the diff splines until I could get the output shafts on. This is fairly common with OBX diffs it seems, when I tried the output shafts on the stock diff they slip on nice and easy.

Time to put it all mostly together. Put the case halves together and tighten it all up, but leave the nose cone/center diff housing off. Those differential bearing cups need to be adjusted now and rather than go through the pics (which I was too busy to take :P ) you can watch the subarugears video which was hugely helpful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSWPKmA09ng

Once I did that, I took it all apart, greased up the ring gear and put it all back together again to check the pattern. You don't have to do this but I was really curious, and it came out fine.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6091_zpsf8bf4a9e.jpg~original

Let's talk about RTV. Let's talk about you and me. Let's talk about all the good things but mostly bad things that you see. Let's talk about sealant. Let's talk about sealant...

Just a little line and spread it out with your finger, it should be a very thin coating meant to fill gaps. I'm tired of seeing half a tube of liquid gasket, RTV, or permabond used to seal surfaces.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6118_zpsaac1ba79.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6115_zps23856db1.jpg~original

I got all excited and forgot to get a good shot before the nose cone and axle stubs went on so BAM! built transmission ready for install. I did the common trans fluid mix of 1qt. motul 75w90 and 3 qt. redline shockproof synthetic gear oil, which gets great reviews on nasioc.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6120_zpse3651e5b.jpg~original

Humble

August 6th 2013, 13:59

I mentioned earlier about difficulties with the STI flywheel & pressure plate. I went and got a whole new WRX setup to use on the car instead but took some shots side by side while I had all the parts.

Right side: STI Aasco 11.5 lb aluminum flywheel, Exedy 15803 stage 1 clutch and pressure plate

Left side: WRX ACT 9.5 lb chromoly flywheel, Exedy 15802 stage 1 clutch and pressure plate

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6093_zps04d61874.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6094_zps8fac6b53.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6095_zpsad3157ae.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6096_zpseee296c3.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6097_zps461cd98f.jpg~original

Basically the WRX parts are the ones you should be using with the 5sp. Your life will be a lot easier if you do. For a street bug using this swap I'd go with a heavier 12-15lb. flywheel, but in the race bug lighter is better. The WRX stuff is a bit smaller in diameter, which reminds me of the bug vs bus flywheel/clutch/pressure plate questions when running my old type 4 motor.

Steve C

August 6th 2013, 21:02

Hi

Thanks for the write up. How good is having gearbox split in 1/2 so you can more easily check the bell housing clearance.

Steve

Humble

August 7th 2013, 11:45

No kidding right? This week the first test fit of motor an transmission should happen, as well as some more clean up on the body, old wiring, and plumbing.

Humble

August 12th 2013, 15:30

So I WAS going to try and test fit the motor and trans but sent the oil pan off to get modified instead. The awesome, bug@5speed pan doesn't clear the stock subaru mounts, so I need to run a shortened stock sump. There's no shortage of work to be done though so I continued stripping the bug. I finished pulling the fuel system, and fuel cell out of the car to make room for the radiator. I got everything out and started cutting before I realized I hadn't taken any pics :P

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6123_zps25ef77bd.jpg~original

The radiator is for a 95 rx7 turbo but it fits perfectly in the bug. The bottom mounts attach to a lower radiator support welded to the forward body mount points. The top of the radiator is braced to the body on either side, and it's pretty sturdy. You can also see the new fuel tank that is loosely resting in the stock location. It's a 15 gallon RCI tank, and I wish there was a better place to put it, but for now it has to sit up high

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6126_zpsa4dfc456.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6127_zps3d19632a.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6128_zps4a8bea43.jpg~original

As I was test fitting everything, I grabbed the air/water intercooler setup and started placing parts. The heat exchanger is an upgraded Ford Lightning part, water pump also comes from the Lightning, and the tank is a simple 1 gallon cell. The heat exchanger fit perfectly behind the stock grill opening, but finding a good spot for the tank and pump was a bit harder. I' worried that filling the area behind the radiator will kill the air flow, and I don't want to heat soat the water tank. Between the tank, pump, heat exchanger and lines, the extra weight adds up. I've been thinking about doing an air/air setup out back but now it'll probably get serious consideration.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6130_zps6218d87a.jpg~original

After a bit of a break I started working on wiring. I pulled out the race dash and switch gear, and started trimming back the harness. I wasn't happy with the location and routing of the stock harness, so with all the new parts I'm re-doing the wiring again to clean it up and simplify the circuits. I'm also going to go with a more modern fuse/relay box relocated to the glove box area for easy reach. I'm going to go back to the stock dash, and use a digital dash in the stock location which should be a little easier on the eyes.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6129_zps823a594e.jpg~original

Humble

August 13th 2013, 22:17

Got my shortened pan and pickup back from Jeff who did an awesome job. Got them bolted onto the motor so I can get a trial fit of the motor and trans in the next few days.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zpsbcf6bdf2.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zps4c650576.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zps33d7aa46.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zps8b8b1e91.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zps60e15b90.jpg~original

Steve C

August 14th 2013, 18:19

Hi

I hope you don't suffer oil surge with that sump mod, I had wings fitted to mine.

Steve

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z328/1303Steve/stevesump.jpg~original (http://s1184.photobucket.com/user/1303Steve/media/stevesump.jpg.html)

volkdent

August 15th 2013, 02:19

Steve C

August 15th 2013, 04:04

Hi

Just noticed that my sump has a more elaborate windage tray, maybe because its a STI or just a different model motor.

Steve

Humble

August 15th 2013, 13:23

Mine is US spec Sti and I've noticed that the pans and pickups are different. The Sti pan is more narrow than the wrx and forrester pans. If you use equal length headers they won't fit if you have kickouts or a non-Sti pan. I'm going to supplement the oil system with an Accusump until I get a dry sump pan and pump. The section that was chopped was so smal l it only lost a quart or less of storage. When I refill the motor I'll mark the new high point on the dip stick and be good for the moment.

vw1303

August 15th 2013, 19:20

http://www.accusump.com/images/main_banner.jpg

I'm also running the accusump in my shortened sump arragement.

Need more $$ for drysump!

Steve C

August 15th 2013, 20:04

Hi

The Accusump is a good plan, I was going to fit one to my motor, I've kept it for an Oxy Boxer I'm building for my sons car.

I've only run my car hard on a track for few laps but I suffered no surge with my sump, talking to Subaru owners they often have oil surge issues. I'm probably not getting the same Gs as them or yourself

Steve

Humble

August 16th 2013, 01:46

Yeah, oil starvation is a big problem for subaru motors and they spin bearings very easily when the pickup goes dry. I know 2 guys locally with subaru swaps, a buggy and a beetle. Both of them have spun bearings more than once under autox conditions. I figure an accusump is cheap insurance, but a dry sump is the real fix.

graham

August 17th 2013, 01:03

Hi Humble

I am watching your build with interest.

I am planning my engine and gearbox swap and slowly collecting parts.I was planning on shortening my sump and extending it forward a bit. Ricola has done this and the Idea is his, so I cant take any credit for it, but in addition to this he has added one of these

http://www.rogerclarkmotorsport.co.uk/shop_detail.asp?productID=3147.this

This looks like a good insurance against oil surge.

All the best
Graham

Humble

August 19th 2013, 14:10

Two steps forward, three steps back, pretty frustrating weekend, but important update none the less.

I started by getting the motor ready, bolting on the flywheel, and clutch assembly. This job was made easier thanks to the aircooled vw flywheel lock, handy little thing.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6145_zpsb25f8184.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6146_zpse55318cd.jpg~original

While I was at it I did some more body mods to make sure I had enough clearance for the motor and turbo. I removed the sealing tin from the rear package tray, and cleaned up the sides to match.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6142_zps7ddd3690.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6140_zpsb8c53d44.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6141_zps88c989ab.jpg~original

Next I got the motor and trans together nice and easy and tried to get it into the car. Firstly, the output stubs had to come off to get the trans in the right position. Then it became obvious the turbo wouldn't clear the package tray. Try as we might I was about an inch from getting the new motor mount bolts in. Finally I pulled the trans off the motor so I could manhandle it into place and see what the problem was

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6147_zpse7673de8.jpg~original

I'm going to come out and say it right away, the subaru trans will not fit the bug without modifying the body. With the medeola motor mount in the lowest position, the top of the bell housing just clears the package tray, BUT the clutch fork does not. Also, the new nose cone/old center diff housing contacts the body above the torsion bar tube. You need to modify this area like you did for the old 901/914 trans swap.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6148_zpsc22a8707.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6149_zps0b6848e4.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6151_zps7f8e325f.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6153_zps9bb1fbe8.jpg~original

I was hoping I wouldn't have to do any body work but it's necessary. I'm going to use this as an opportunity to re-do the cage as well as prototype a mod I've had in my head for a while. The idea is to take the rear package tray and make a 45* angle from the bottom of the back window to the floor above the transmission. To make this happen I have to sacrifice the front of the roll cage to keep the main hoop/rear stays, so out came the cutting tools and the cage.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6158_zpsdb5cd428.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6157_zps2a906cff.jpg~original

The rear cage stays will have the plates cut off and the legs shortened to meet the new raised floor. It will be cleaned up and have what's left of the old front section removed.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6156_zps96467313.jpg~original

A very empty beetle...

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6154_zpsa2ffd7cb.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6155_zpsd68f035b.jpg~original

On a side note, I'm drawing up the new wiring plans, and I want to switch to a digital dash. I've been looking at the Aim MXL Strada, Race Technology Dash2 Pro, and the Racepak IQ3 and want to find folks who have used them. Of the 3, the MXL Strada is the only one with official support for the megasquirt MS3 on CAN bus, the other 2 are CAN capable but don't support MS3 on CAN bus, only serial. Once you factor in logging and camera control the Dash2 Pro and IQ3 start looking better due to price. Any info would be helpful.

Voiden

August 25th 2013, 03:32

Really inspiring build.

I see you have chosen the extended Subaflanges.
What driveshafts will you use?
I can not find any that fit when you have extended fitted.

Humble

August 26th 2013, 13:46

I haven't measured yet, but I'm sure there's something out there that will fit. The wide turbo arms give me a bit more room, so I'm guessing I'll need something around 17" +/- 1". I'm not opposed to custom length axles from sway-a-way but I want to find an off the shelf part if possible.

Humble

September 2nd 2013, 19:08

It was a rough week, but I hunkered down and soldiered on. Found out a good friend and former co-driver passed away very suddenly a week ago. He was pretty young at 29, and I didn't even know he was sick, but he had late stage liver cancer. Biehruz was the kindest and most competitive guy I know, he will be dearly missed.

Worked on the bug off and on but got a lot done over the weekend. It seemed like I was spinning my wheels, but hopefully now I'm over the hump. The rear package try was ready to be modded so I started there. I cut along the sides and in the corner so I could fold the flaps up to meet in the middle.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6159_zpsdd923ba3.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6160_zpsb5de7a4d.jpg~original

I trimmed up the sheet metal and I'll make a new floor later. You can see the new floor brace I started on that may also support the accusump later. I started to pull the rear suspension apart because it needed to come out to get the front transmission mount in.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6162_zps9ac55917.jpg~original

With the floor trimmed up it was time to try and fit the motor again. it's a bit of chicken and egg when it comes to the front trans mount. You can't place it without having the motor/trans together, but its a pain to get the motor/trans into place as a whole unit. Eventually I got them into the car and bolted the motor mount in using the lowest setting. Just eyeballing it now looks like the cross pipe for the header sits about where the old turbo was mounted.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6164_zpsd6fc40fe.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6165_zps13cafec9.jpg~original

I had to cut a little flap to clear the nose of the trans. After the fact I realized it might fit if I had ground down the rib on top but it still would have been a tight fit. Of course I failed to notice the brake line for the rear was right against the body so I cut right through it :P

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6167_zps653ecc56.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6166_zps655ce14b.jpg~original

Now it was time to completely remove the rear trailing arms so I could locate and drill the holes for the forward trans mount. It was such a pain in the ass to drill the holes, my arms were killing me by the time I was done. I needed to pull the trailing arms off anyway to upgrade the spring plate and swap out the driver's side trailing arm to match the passenger side.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6169_zpsd46d7b08.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6173_zps81fba3a8.jpg~original

I quick comparison between the old '87 944 turbo trailing arm (bottom) and the new '90 944 S2 arm (top). The big differences being the elimination of the bump stop pad and the new arm is ready for a wheel speed sensor. There is a different stub axle with teeth around the cv cup if you're curious.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6170_zps64917f93.jpg~original

Passenger side bolted in loosely for test fit of the new 935-style adjustable spring plate. Seriously awesome part, thanks Alex!

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6174_zps2136e7fc.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6175_zps00d35d76.jpg~original

That's about it for now. It doesn't seem like much but for each thing I had to do something else to get it ready. Hopefully now it goes a little smoother and there won't be as many problems.

effvee

September 2nd 2013, 22:43

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6174_zps2136e7fc.jpg~original

Please excuse me haking up you wonderful post, but:D this side view looks so good. I'm dreaming of how a EZ36R can be stuffed in there. The builder in Downey fell off the net, so I can't ask him how is his project going. Question, does it look very, vey close for a 6 cylinder to fit?:o. Again sorry for haking up your wonderful post. I think there is a less problem with oil pan height on the EZ36R, I did not hear if the EZ30 oil pan would fit the EZ36r.. Just think they come in 12cylinder too:eek:

SuperRSi

September 3rd 2013, 14:07

It looks like Alex has built some Uniballs that look better than the MBT I bought for my bug. And easier to get the parts by far. Nice choice and build.

Humble

September 3rd 2013, 15:11

effvee, I remember reading somewhere that the ez30 was only ~3 inches longer than the ej25, but if that's the case it'll put the cam covers past the apron. I guess that would work in a baja build, but not other wise. I'll get some better pics to show where the cam covers sit on the ej25.

SuperRSi, Alex's parts are awesome, and one of the best parts on the car. Not cheap, but worth every penny.

ricola

September 3rd 2013, 15:45

I read the latest (chain driven cam) subaru 6s are only 0.7" longer than the quad cam 4s

effvee

September 3rd 2013, 21:52

Hi all, now I'm going into my Mr.technical mode:lmao:. Given the fact of a 5 speed Subie trans added length. Since I am desperate, for room(in my mind:D) I wonder how a normal 4 speed would fair. I could choose taller gear ratios. Take que for the many gear ratios, like some of the Porsche do. . I have aRhino case, quaife diff, the case is gussited. Maybe I can get the needed back clearences. Are you going to change your exhaust length.

Humble

September 11th 2013, 11:40

effvee, I haven't got any pics yet, didn't even get pics of the work i did this weekend :P I'll try to get some today or tomorrow and put them up but it looks like it'll be a very tight fit.

It was also a race weekend and I had to borrow the porsche again, how awful ;) David borrowed my excursion to go to burning man so it seemed like a fair trade. My good friend Sean (not my usual co-driver Sean, yes they are both Sean) helped me by taking the race tires down to the event and taking some video. I was out it the first group in the morning and traded times by and forth with my nemesis all morning. I edged out a victory by .1 sec, and had top time of day for most of the morning. At the end of the day I finished 1st in class, and 10th overall in PAX. If i finish 2nd or better for the next 3 races I'll be champion. :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4joEK3ONKw

-Alex-

September 11th 2013, 12:51

Looks very nice :) I cannot even imagine the powerlevels :D

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6175_zps00d35d76.jpg~original

But looks like you have mounted upside down the uniball housing :lmao: If you are riding a lower rear height, you should try the uniball housing so the uniball joint is higher like remmele kits here:

http://www.german-performance-parts.be/data/articles/images/lightbox/big/remmele-uniball-ophanging_363_3.jpg~original

Humble

September 11th 2013, 13:50

Good eyes! I was hoping nobody would notice, but I did have to flop them around on sat. I wish these had the double-adjuster like the remmele units but the only ones I can find are in standard sizes not metric :P

-Alex-

September 11th 2013, 15:24

I would also prefer that connecting rod with left and right hand threads - but it would require also left hand threads to uniball joint or to arm bracket. At the moment i dont have left hand taps. At small quantities it is not cost effective to make this change. I could make these at near future, but it would rise the total kit price about 40-50 euros. I have to think this at next time.

To ease the adjustment, i made all three bolt holes to same diameter at bracket, and not like remmele bracket or stock springplate, which have one large bolt hole.

Humble

September 17th 2013, 16:21

Lots of little projects to keep me busy while I wait on money and parts. I worked on getting the new fuel tank frame fabbed up and painted. It'll hold the larger 15 gal fuel tank in the stock location (which is higher than I want), and do to the slight angle I should have better fuel pickup but slightly less capacity.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6176_zps3eafd3d8.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6179_zps35d4fbfd.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6180_zps03f2f0b7.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6181_zps528a9db1.jpg~original

I want to get a stock dash back in the car, to clean it up, and because one of the classes I want to run in requires it. I bought this one a while ago but only unwrapped it this weekend and it was a mess. A lot of rust and dirt from sitting and the dash pad was cracked. I threw some paint on it to make it a bit more pleasing to the eye and I'll clean it up later. The metal dash strip in the original from the car and has the correct VIN, I saved it just in case I wanted to put a dash back in the car.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6182_zpsd9a52d2e.jpg~original

Installed the mendeola stiffy brace and got the suspension bolted back in to make sure everything cleared alright. I also replaced the brake line I cut through when I was cutting the flap for the transmission nose cone. I also tested fitted a modded down pipe from a previous project to get an idea of routing for the exhaust. While everything was in place I measured for the new axle length I'll need and it's 18 3/4" which I'll need to order from sway-a-way.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6186_zps82090890.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6187_zps7a909067.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6188_zpsdb1c79fb.jpg~original

You probably noticed the trans fluid and catch pan under the car in those last pics. I turned the motor over with the trans in gear to make sure everything was still good and one of the axle seals started leaking. It's about a drip a second which is pretty bad, so I think the retaining spring came off the inside of the seal. I'm going to have to pull the trans back out of the car to fix it which is a pain, but better to do it now than later.

-Alex-

September 29th 2013, 16:50

Is 14" open lenght QA1 a good fit with 944 alu rear arms? Atleast the rear ride height looks nice, is there how much shock travel left?

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/IMG_0043.jpg~original

Humble

October 1st 2013, 15:24

Alex,
The QA1 work great and if I had to guess, I think I have about 2.5-3" of bump and 1.5-1" of droop.

Took a long weekend to work on the bug, the big task on hand was pulling the motor/trans to replace the leaking axle seal. Surprisingly, I was able to pull the motor/trans very quickly by leaving the trans mount and engine cradle in place. Not that I plan to make use of that feature very often, but it is handy. The longest part of the job was running down to the subaru dealership to get parts. I sent more time in traffic than I did on the whole axle seal job. So here's a shot of a beautiful, not-leaking, reversed R&P 5spd (the stain is from the previously munged axle seal)

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6189_zps34612d65.jpg~original

I also got an email from the folks over at subarugears.com regarding the oil level and potential future leaks. Since the center diff housing is cut in half, and the trans doesn't sit at the same angle it does in the subaru, it's necessary to put the full amount of gear oil in to get good coverage on 5th gear. This does put the oil level about 1/3 up the axle seal and while it's okay for street use, under race conditions I'll need to vent the case to prevent oil from blowing out. I'll probably use the whole I accidentally ground through the case for the breather which should be above the oil level. They did mention not to use the dipstick tube because the bottom of that is below the oil level and could cause problems.

I spent a little time upgrading my toolbox this weekend too. Yes, it's a cheapy harbor freight box, because I'd rather put 10k into my drivetrain and not my toolbox. I was using a 26" craftsman roller and top box but I out grew it a long time ago. The new 42" box can hold most of my tools plus my electrical/wiring tools, and a later side addition can hold the engine building and precision tools. I got some tool organizers as well so everything is easier to find which is part of what started this upgrade in the first place. I was just getting tired of having to search in 3 or 4 places to find the tools I needed. No toolbox is complete without some bling so I put a bunch of stickers on it to make it faster :)

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6191_zps921f2d6e.jpg~original

Spent Saturday striping the wiring out of the bug and separating the harnesses. I put the dash in so I could figure out the new fusebox mount and wire routing. So far the chassis harness is ready to go (lights, wipers, horn, starter), and I got the engine ready for power wiring (alternator+, starter+, and battery+). Spent some time that night pouring over the subaru wiring diagrams to figure out alternator and coolant sensor wiring. Once the dash went in I realized how much the cage intruded into driver/passenger space, I can't wait until the new cage goes in this winter.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6193_zps3d741dfd.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6194_zpsb25c4c8d.jpg~original

On Monday I dragged my laptop out into the garage and did a lot of measuring, head scratching and ordering parts. I ran out of, or didn't have the right AN fittings for the fuel system so I ordered those and moved on to coolant plumbing. I used some cut up radiator hoses for mock up and ordered the necessary silicone bends. I have some industrial gates hose I could use under the car but I would rather get some stainless 1.5" pipe for looks/lightness. A new throttle body, air/air intercooler, and intake/exhaust plumbing are all on order too.

I'm in a rush now to finish everything up before the rainy season starts, and last weekends storm was a reminder it's just around the corner.

Humble

October 16th 2013, 15:35

Slow progress on the bug, a lot of hurry-up-and-wait. I'm working on wiring, plumbing, and exhaust at the same time as I run into blockages.

Wiring:
Fascinating and tedious, I love and hate wiring. I'm using the existing engine harness to create a new one using a couple weatherpak 22-pin connectors for quick disconnect. I'm on the first part of this which is simply figuring out what needs to be on the engine side of the bulkhead connectors and getting the ends terminated. COPs, injectors, cam angle sensors and crank angle sensor are done at the moment. Also related to wiring, I found a good deal on an open box Aim MXL Pista so I'll be using that for the dash. I like that it's compatible with the MS3X can-bus, a big factor in the decision, and I'm wondering if I can feed sensor data back to the MS3X from the Pista.

Plumbing:
I ordered a handful of 1.5" silicon bends and couplers for the cooling system, so those are ready and waiting. I want to pick up some stainless 1.5" pipe and get it bent to hug the underside of the bug, that will be lighter than the reinforced gates hydraulic hose I have I need to find a good diagram of the engine coolant routes to make sure the swirl pot and turbo are plumbed correctly. I've been waiting on a fuel surge tank, which finally arrived yesterday, to finish plumbing the fuel system. Now that it's here I can finish the AN hoses and be done with it. I've been on the lookout for ideas on how to plumb an accusump into the ej25 but still keep the oil/water cooler. Everything I see just replaces the oil cooler with a sandwich plate for the accusump.

Exhaust:
I bought way more than I need so I have plenty of materials to screw things up a couple times. Turbo back, the exhaust will only be about 2 ft. long at most. I got a 3" v-band output flange for the turbo, some 180 and 45 degree 3" pipe, a couple 3" v-band clamps, and a 3" Borla xr-1 oval muffler which hopefully takes some bite out of the exhaust volume. If not I think I might have a 3" supertrapp floating around which should do the job. Ideally, I need to be below 92db to run at Lagua Seca in my back yard, or shell out for no-limit days.

In racing news I had a great event a week ago Sunday. Event #8 autoxing with NorCalUFO in Marina, and it was a fairly fast but technical course that wasn't easy to read. I've been in a heated points battle with my nemesis all year, and this was his last chance to take the championship away from me. We ran in the afternoon and since we had a 2 driver car our tires were getting pretty hot. Ian (nemesis), on the other hand got screwed by the grid master, a newbie cutting in line, and the karts, so all his runs were basically on cold tires. I pulled a 48.1 to his 49.0 cinching the OSP championship points race. I'm currently 3rd overall with 2 races to go, not sure I can swing 2nd overall but it's worth a shot. The downside to this, is that the Cayman has killed my poor tires, so after this season it's time for another set.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0qXe9IpJjg

graham

October 17th 2013, 00:46

spannermanager

October 17th 2013, 03:53

Guys, its possible to scare yourself shirtless reading about coolant pipe Galvanic corrosion etc, back in 'the day' plumbing hardware was almost universally used by everyone, and i mean works teams too, not back street cars, its very common still today, together with stainless pipework, and with the huge classic racing scene growing bigger and bigger, i was pleased to see a replica of the BTCC winning Imp of George Bevan recently, complete with copper coolant pipes to the alloy screamer in the back, Georges son and the cars engineer said they never had any such problems back in the '70's, and wanted the replica to be authentic in detail to the original car. not my choice by any means, mine are alloy and rubber/silicon where necessary, just some more input to the subject.. cheers Johnny.

al_kaholik

October 17th 2013, 06:21

Isn't there a lot to be said about modern coolant helpign keep it at bay too? G12+ is meant to be a good choice at a reasonable price.

Pretty sure Ricola uses stainless with his Subaru and Iain Ambrose uses it with his WBX with no ill effects at present

cookvw

October 17th 2013, 09:29

spannermanager

October 17th 2013, 10:53

Well I feel like a hack I guess... LOL. But I just used all galvanized steel for mine and have had zero problems at all. I had an exhaust shop just bent me a bunch of 90* bends, then I went to home Depot and bought 2 10ft. Sticks of 1 1/2" galvanized steel electrical conduit for the whopping price of $15 a stick. It's worked great for me thus far. I chose the steel route cause I didn't have the means to weld aluminum, nor even get it here in the small town that I live in.

@humble with the wiring I can feel your pain cause I've ditched the OE fuse block in favor for a much more updated unit. Vw used the same fuse block in water-cooled cars from 89'-99' called CE2 (central electric 2). I've been happy since I switched over to a newer unit.

Good work, its all about getting to what you want to achieve in the end.

Isn't there a lot to be said about modern coolant helpign keep it at bay too? G12+ is meant to be a good choice at a reasonable price.

Pretty sure Ricola uses stainless with his Subaru and Iain Ambrose uses it with his WBX with no ill effects at present
October 17th 2013
^^^^^^^^^ this too.
Yes, G12plus is good, and there are many even higher spec brands available.

ricola

October 17th 2013, 14:35

I've used copper in the past, currently using mild steel, never any issues with either, just use a good coolant...
Rich

Humble

October 21st 2013, 15:18

Good notes on the galvanic corrosion, I'll keep that in mind. I chose stainless steel for it's corrosion resistance to the elements but as others mentioned, with modern coolant it shouldn't be too much of an issue. I've followed a number of other race/kit/street car builds that made use of stainless pipe without issue so I figured it's a good choice.

Didn't get to work on a few things that I wanted to this weekend. Our road was closed for resurfacing, so no mail/ups/fedex deliveries, and no parts I was expecting. On Friday I started on the fuel system, which meant lots of fittings, and finding a good place for the fuel surge tank. I also needed to find a spot for 2 fuel pumps that is easily reachable and good for plumbing. I ended up putting the walbro lift pump on the wheel well next to the tank, and the 044 below the surge tank and mounted to the lower radiator support. I also started running the fuel return from the fpr to the surge tank but I need to wait for the coolant lines to determine the route.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6203_zps42133522.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6202_zps09a8e2ce.jpg~original

I was going to try and use the subaru sensors but the outputs needed conditioning for use in the ms3x. It was much easier to drill and tap for GM sensors which work out of the box with the ms3x. I already had the sensors, 9/16" drill and 3/8" npt tap laying around from a previous project so it was a quick job. I also clearanced the intake for the cable throttle body and bolted it into place. Since it's an ebay find I took the time to check and lock-tite the butterfly screws which were barely finger tight. The throttle plate area seals okay but the idle valve port doesn't, so I'll just make a block off plate for that.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6206_zpsc8629ad5.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6204_zps43302899.jpg~original

I lied, apparently my IAT sensor went missing :P Ordered a new one and a knock sensor mod kit for the ms3x from diyautotune.com. I've been getting all my megasquirt parts from them since forever and I have never been disappointed.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6205_zpsadc60b90.jpg~original

I finished the weekend by making this poorly welded masterpiece. It took most of the day of fit-measure-cut-tack etc. to sort out the exhaust path. It's a little close to the truss bar but it clears just fine and there's about an inch clearance on the axle and spring perch at full droop. I hacked the bellmouth off an old downpipe and welded a v-band to it, then used some 3" stainless bends to put the muffler between the tire and valve cover. There's about 2" clearance on the tire, 1" on the header and it doesn't hang any lower the the engine cradle. The welding could be better, but you can only do so well welding outside with a slight breeze. What you can't see is the O2 sensor bung in the 90*downturn next to the transmission. There's one near the tail pipe exit because that was some scrap 3" I had laying around :P I just need to make a bracket to support the end of the muffler and the exhaust is done!

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6201_zps8b8b81cf.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6200_zps010648c0.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6199_zpsef6e5d3d.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6198_zps380dd2fe.jpg~original

Humble

November 13th 2013, 15:19

I'm not making as much progress as I'd like, just too much going on with work, weekend meetings and finishing the racing season. Speaking of race season, we had our last race on sunday and I borrowed David's Cayman S again. It was surprisingly warm in Marina and we over heated the tires, slowing us down by over a second. I came in 2nd in class, but had I run in the correct class for the car I would have been 1st in pax by .3 seconds. I think I need to get a cayman s soon! The good news is that I am now officially the 2013 OSP class champion, and I finished 3rd in points overall for the year. Woohoo!

I've been doing some work on the dash, both digital and physical. I picked up an AIM MXL Pista dash after a great deal came up on it. I took over the dining room table and setup a test bench with the ms3x and the MXL Pista talking via can-bus. I was able to read everything but calculated gear and vss from the ms3x. I shot an email off to AIM but haven't heard anything back from them. The dash is very nice, but the back light is kinda dim, so I'm wondering how well I'll be able to see it in the car. Another concern is oil pressure and temp sensors. I'm not sure if I can add those to the ms3x then read them into the Pista, or if I have to just use the AIM sensors for the dash.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zpsab59ae0c.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/iPhoneUpload_zpsc218707a.jpg~original

As for the actual dash in the car I started hacking up the foam and steel to clearance for the new dash using the template. I want to put the gas gauge and switches in the center, then put the fuse box and relays where the glove box was.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6207_zps7c274c2e.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6209_zpsdf3fb68e.jpg~original

Using poster board and tape as a base I started doing a very poor job of fiberglassing. I mean it's really bad.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6211_zps7cd025bc.jpg~original

This is only the 2nd time I've used fiberglass so I'm learning quite a bit in the process. It is a bit of a pain to do outside and on your own, the wind didn't make it easier. I did try a few different types of cloth in different areas so I can see how it differs on a non-structural part. The goal is to be comfortable enough to do my splitter and radiator ducting soon.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6212_zpsad3ea209.jpg~original

It really does look awful but I'm going to do my best to clean it up and make it serviceable. It's a race car not a show queen, I just need it to hold gauges and hide wiring.

Moving on!

While I was hacking things up I decided I'd make whats left of the roll cage look presentable. I ground off the stubs for the door bars and the forward down bars. I shot it with a little paint afterwards and it's all pretty again. I still need to cut off the rear plates and trim the rear cage stays to meet the new raised floor in the back.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6214_zps2af5290a.jpg~original

Another check box on the list was to test fit pedals and modify the shifter. The pedals are a tilton 3 pedal set I had lying around from a previous car, and they almost fit. the MCs push the pedals to far back if i try to fit it all in the footwell. If I try to mount it flush, the body/pan mating surface gets in the way. I've wanted this setup for a long time, because once you've driven with properly setup pedals that's all you want. I did find a reverse floor mount pedal set from OBP so I'll probably pickup one of those to test fit, and it should work with the standard tilton/wilwood MCs. With the move to triple MCs I'll probably re-plumb the brakes with -3 ptfe line, and use the same stuff for the clutch as well. Ironically, it should take longer to remove the old setup than putting in the new one.

As far as the shifter goes, it's an empi hurst knock-off and I've always loved the way it felt. Unfortunately, the vw reverse lock out was effectively 1-2 lock out on the subaru 5sp. I pulled it apart and modified it so the lock out can no longer work. I tried it in the car and all gears engage perfectly. I really want a bug-tech shifter (omg so bad) but I just can't justify $460 for one. I've started to cad up a similar design with an adjustable pivot and more stick height. That way you can adjust the throw to your liking and it puts the shift knob in a race friendly position. I've already had a couple design iterations (one of them was even on purpose!) and I'll put it up soon enough.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6215_zps6ba8cd37.jpg~original

Humble

December 29th 2013, 22:54

The build is slowing down a bit because Nov-Feb is my busy season. I visited a very cold Chicago for a week and a very warm LA for a week. We had a small Thanksgiving with fried turkey for about a dozen people, and did it again over Christmas. I finally got some time to work on the car over the Christmas break so I've done what I can with the nice but short days.

I swapped the intake out for a dbw wrx intake. I need to widen a few of the mounting holes to make it work, but it seems like that is a common mod. I also picked up some wrinkle finish paint to pretty it up, but it hasn't been warm enough to use it yet.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6216_zpsffa71c04.jpg~original

The intercooler mount is half done, the lower support is in place but it needs to come out again for paint. I'm not sure how I'm going to brace the top yet but it'll probably use the wing stantions for support. The intercooler sticks out more than I thought it would but it should work pretty well as a result.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6217_zps3c83889c.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6218_zps346371dc.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6219_zpsce28d4b4.jpg~original

I got the new OBP pedals in the car as far back as I could mount them. The beetle footwell narrows down too much to put them against the "firewall" so they sit forward about an inch or two. Once the pedals were mounted I could start measuring hose and assembling a dozen fittings.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6227_zps64b51389.jpg~original

Humble

December 30th 2013, 00:08

I didn't find any decent guides on ptfe fittings, which are different from aluminum compression fittings I've used elsewhere on the build. So here's a quick write up for the curious.

I started with all my tools in one place: lubricating oil, dowel, wrenches, cutter, and a small flathead screwdriver. I highly recommend leather or thick rubber lined gloves to keep the frayed stainless steel wires out of your skin.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6228_zps57336f1a.jpg~original

First step is to pull apart the fitting and ready the ptfe hose. The hose has a dumb end and a smart end. You put the first fitting on the dumb end then check/mark the hose length you need in the car. Finally, you cut the hose and assemble the smart end you just cut and you should have a perfect fit.

Here's the steel -3 an ptfe fitting in all it's glory. From the left, the collar, the ferrule, and the main fitting.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6229_zps28775341.jpg~original

Take your dumb end and slip the collar over and push it down out of the way.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6231_zps268d058c.jpg~original

Then take your small screwdriver and peel the braided wire away from the teflon core. Be careful around the opening otherwise you'll have trouble getting the ferrule on.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6233_zps41cd0c36.jpg~original

Take your ptfe dowel, or carefully use the screwdriver, to round out the opening of the teflon hose, but try not to flower it outward, again the ferrule is a tight fit.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6235_zpse722efb2.jpg~original

Now slip the ferrule over the end of the teflon hose but make sure it's inside the braids you separated. Push the ferrule all the way down until it seats fully, you should be able to see in the opening if the teflon seated correctly. Some I could do by hand and others I would need to use the table to force it in.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6236_zpsf0b8d4e2.jpg~original

Push the main fitting down through the ferrule and pull the collar up to about where it is in the pic. It should get to that point fairly easy by hand.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6240_zpsf0d9be08.jpg~original

Finally, add a little lube on the braids and threads and start winding the collar up to the main fitting. This is a pain and after a dozen of these you'll really start to feel it in your hands. I used a wrench to help spin the collars up to the fittings and a little lube goes a long way here. Once you get the threads started go slow to avoid stripping the fitting or collar. Don't expect the collar to fully seat on the fitting, if it does good, if it doesn't then don't force it. If you want to be really trick you can pre-intall the line to clock the fitting so its facing the correct way. Once they are threaded these fittings don't really swivel.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6241_zps0b93ad76.jpg~original

There you have it, 1 fitting down and 19 more to go! :( A couple tips if you want unmarred fittings. Wrap the collar and main fitting in vinyl or teflon tape before you wrench on them or put them in the vice. Lube is super important! I stripped 2 fittings thinking I could do without.

Humble

December 30th 2013, 00:40

Let the hydraulic plumbing begin! First off, the clutch system with a new banjo bolt (10mm x 1mm) and the master cylinder is 3/4" (19mm) to match the subaru slave.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6256_zps4e016385.jpg~original

Next was the rear brakes, 10mm x 1mm to -3 AN adapters for the porsche calipers and a tee fitting by the trans going forward to the MC. For front and back circuits I went with 15/16" (23.8mm) to match the porsche 930 master cylinder I was using before.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6250_zpse505fb12.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6249_zps02785bb4.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6247_zps9ec5c626.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6246_zpsedf52434.jpg~original

The finished OBP pedal setup with all the master cylinders mounted, and lines run. the low pressure lines run up through the old heater channel and the reservoirs will sit next to the gas tank.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6254_zps640347e7.jpg~original

I'm going to use pieces of leather to keep the stainless hoses from wearing through the low pressure feed lines and to keep the cover plate dimples from digging into them.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6255_zps1ec2973c.jpg~original

I'm still working on the front circuit which gets an aim brake pressure sensor and a brake light switch. I'm just trying to figure out how/where to mount them. I also set the dash and seat in place while working on the pedals, which was nice for me to see. It reminded me that it is in fact a bug and that there's still a few important things on my checklist.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6252_zps0e2cfcf2.jpg~original

Wally

December 30th 2013, 08:42

Nice job on the fittings and all manufactoring!

-Alex-

December 30th 2013, 10:10

Wally

December 30th 2013, 11:19

I didnt see any support on torsiontubes on your car and other high hp cars, including Wallys car, i have only seen support on mendeola oval chassis and remmele chassis.

Looks like they dont need as much support as the shock towers and framehorns.

First i wanted to have tubes from rollcage mainloop to torsiontubes, but it might be not needed from what i have heard:

Alex,

The fact I didn't weld any supports to the torsion tubes, doesn't neccesarily mean I wouldn't be better of with them...
In fact, thats probably the first other thing I will add to the existing cage as my instablity at Santa Pod in 2012 might be due to missing exactly that!

Cheers,
Walter

Humble

December 30th 2013, 14:46

I thought about bracing the ends of the torsion tubes but I don't know if it's worth the extra metal. I'll probably setup a string pot during a track day or autox to see how much they actually move. I would think between the kafer brace and rear cage stays tied to the body it would be fairly stiff already.

Humble

March 24th 2014, 19:35

All my projects are waking up as I come out of my busy season. The race bug is taking a bit longer but is getting more goodies than the other two. Recently I stumbled on not one, but two sets of spendy race wheels for a bargain. The first set I lucked into was some CCW CW10, mixed from a Cayman S and a GT3 in 18x8.5/9. I wrapped them in new Hankook Ventus F200 240/640R18 and 270/680R18 C51 tires, which I got of a racing buddy for cheap. The cazy part is these wheels are basically new, lass than 100 autox miles on the rims, basically 2 seasons. $1500 all told for this setup, almost 1/3 off it's new price.

The second set of wheels was a lucky find on ebay. I was looking to rebuild a set of Fikse 18" Profil 5S from wheel centers I got off a porsche team last year but no one had used barrels. A new set of barrels and hardware would have set me back about $2600 after tax/shipping. Looking for barrels the other day I come across a set of Fikse Profil 5S 17x9.5/10 for $1400 but one wheel needed an outer barrel half and center. $630 later and its on the way, all told a bit over $2000 for a set of wheels that cost almost twice that, not too shabby. No tires yet but those are coming once the last rim is rebuilt. That gives me 3 wide sets of wheels for the race bug, streets/rains, autox/hillclimb and track days.

Besides tires, I've been accumulating electrical necessities for the wiring job at hand, and once the other 2 cars are finished the wiring will start in earnest.

Mr_Zed_ZX20

March 30th 2014, 00:08

Your collection of wheels and tires are starting to sound like mine. My girlfriend says I'm about as bad as a woman when it comes to shoes, lol.

volkdent

April 8th 2014, 21:30

Flashback 2012. Pic thanks to JKFAB aka Jeff K.

https://scontent-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t31.0-8/1669801_10152066327853310_7512114941057381173_o.jp g

Jason

Humble

April 13th 2014, 19:31

Nice! I haven't been back to bugorama since then, but I'd like to get both GSR's side by side the next time I go. Probably won't happen in May but maybe by August.

Here's a shot of the CCW CW10's wrapped in Hankook race slicks I mentioned before.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6304_zps30fdd36c.jpg~original

Here's the new set of Fikse Profil 5S, the lower left rim needs a new center and outer barrel. The new parts came in, but were not anodized so I'm waiting for them to come back.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/DSCF6305_zps805d3d71.jpg~original

Haven't had much time for Lucy the race bug, with Joy taking a lot of my time. Once Joy is sold and Mojo the GSR get's re-assembled It'll be full time on the race bug until she's done. My old job has eaten all my time this year and I start a new gig at Apple on monday, which shouldn't be as brutal... I hope.

Humble

May 20th 2014, 01:02

Not too much to report other than finally getting the rim parts I needed to rebuild the last set of race wheels. The rim is back together but I haven't put any sealing caulk on it yet. 17x10.5 ready to go!

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/1A87A118-102A-466E-9A4F-720869C70020_zpsezyoudit.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/592D3C0D-4AB8-4C27-9CC6-CC5F9AB0F0A9_zpsgebxvo03.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/5AB31F97-8BC1-45CE-AD91-154F2595C6B1_zps1nl8cgc4.jpg~original

To set this into perspective here's a few wheels from my beetles:

bottom: stock beetle 15x4.5 steel rim, 165/85-15 tire
left: ATS classic 15x5, sporty stock beetle, 175/55-15 sporty rim tire
right: CCW CW10 18x8.5, front race bug track wheel, 240/640-18 slick
top: Fikse FM5 Classic 17x10, rear race bug autox wheel, 275/40-17 semi-slick

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/CB978D7B-B619-42A8-8CA0-5F217E73C1C0_zps5wu5qrrn.jpg~original

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/humblewolf/Lucy/40351755-DE30-4201-A5DA-17292E308B2F_zpsjyppac6t.jpg~original

Trying to drive a bug quickly on stock tires after having any of the others is sketchy as hell btw. You can easily feel the sidewalls squirming underneath you.

judgie

May 21st 2014, 03:49

your getting to the point of what must be over tyreing the chassis. I have gone from 7x16 to 9x15 and now to 7.5x17 rims with various tyres and now run track wets for hill climbs i do.
I'm really not sure we can use such rubber effectively, getting them upto temp must be hard and controlling that much weight must also be difficult.
not knocking what your doing as i know it runs good times.

volkdent

May 21st 2014, 20:59

You doing Bug O?

Jason

Humble

May 24th 2014, 01:16

Jason,
Gotta skip bugorama so I can fix my tow rig and get a damage assessment for the truck and trailer. A story coming on that later.

Judgie,
I have trouble warming up certain compounds at autox, but hillclimbs or track days get the tires up to temp no problem. If you check the porsche club racers with rs copies, a good number of those cars run 11"-13" wide rubber and weigh about the same. It all boils down to contact patch, compound, and application. That being said, I advocate for smaller rubber for folks who race on a budget, or don't want to go crazy with mods. 7-8" rubber is good enough for just about everyone and the rubber costs almost half of what I usually run.

Clatter

June 3rd 2014, 10:44

Love the pic with the four different wheels...
Can you maybe throw them each on the scale for a comparison of weight?

My bet is that the stock steelie and tire is the lightest of the bunch. :-)

I became convinced that massive power is needed when comparing my 944T brake setup and wheels to the stockers on the scale.
Until you have a BIG power level, that donk look we all love so much here is a hinderance for sure.
Diminishing returns performance-wise until at a very high level... Due to the weight.

I remember how much slower my car felt when just the wheel/brake conversion was done.

Just because the P-car guys do it, doesn't make it right.
If anyone was prone to fashion-ism, it would be them....
:-P

Mr_Zed_ZX20

June 13th 2014, 16:36

Until you have a BIG power level, that donk look we all love so much here is a hinderance for sure.

Just because the P-car guys do it, doesn't make it right.
If anyone was prone to fashion-ism, it would be them....
:-P

I have to agree with your point of view even though I'm running 18x11 and 18x8's with boxster S brakes. Definitely overkill and I realized this once I put them on the car (but they look soooo good, lol). Like any form of racing, you only add when the abilities of the current parts are exceeded. Having followed Humble's blog from the beginning, I'd say he's probably got a pretty good handle on what works and what doesn't for his setup.

-Alex-

March 8th 2018, 18:26

Still racing? Any news?

Wally

March 18th 2018, 03:48

still racing? Any news?

+1

Humble

March 20th 2018, 15:31

I've been busy for the last couple years but still working on germanlook projects, if only in a consulting role.

I raced through 2014 in the bug, treating the rest of the year as development.

In 2015, I borrowed a friends Porsche Cayman S to compete with, and championed that year. In the mean time I swapped out the engine/trans for subaru sti 2.5L turbo and 5sp.

I was diagnosed with early onset Amyloidosis, and an ECG showed protein buildup in my heart, which will eventually lead to cardiomyopathy or stiffening of the heart muscle. I was 36 at the time. I moved to San Francisco proper and sold all my beetles, tow rig, and traded in my sporty 135i daily for a minivan, something more practical.

2016 and 2017 I focused on my health. I had high blood pressure, was over weight, and really needed to turn that around. It started with walks, then longer walks, then a little gym time then daily gym routine, then a solid diet plan and daily gym routine. I lost 40lbs, and greatly improved my health but my soul was wilting without the thrill of racing or even spirited driving.

In 2016 I ordered a Heritage Blue Ultima Evolution, and built it in 4 months with the help of some friends from August to December 2017. Since photobucket **** the bed, I decided to do a build vlog on youtube and rebranded my channel. I also put together an Instagram account which is more up-to-date. The Ultima has better than twice the power to weigh of the race bug, but the bug was an excellent set of training wheels to prepare for such a beast.

https://www.youtube.com/drivedriverdriven
https://www.instagram.com/DriveDriverDriven/

I still miss my beetles. My GSR resurfaced in Seattle last I saw, but to my knowledge, the race bug hasn't appeared in public since I sold it.